Iain Dale's Guide to Political Blogging in the UK

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Iain Dale’s GUIDE TO POLITICAL BLOGGING IN THE UK 2007-08 >

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Iain Dale’s GUIDE TO POLITICAL BLOGGING IN THE UK 2007-08

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Articles by thirty leading bloggers and commentators Profiles of more than fifty leading blogs A directory of 1,200 political blogs The best 500 political blogs in the UK The best 100 Conservative, Labour and LibDem blogs

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Iain Dale’s

Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2007–8

Iain Dale’s

Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2007–8

Harriman House Ltd 3A Penns Road Petersfield Hampshire GU32 2EW Tel. +44 (0)1730 233870, Fax +44(0)1730 233880 Email: [email protected] Website: www.harriman-house.com First published in Great Britain in 2007 by Harriman House Ltd. Copyright © Iain Dale The rights of the Contributors to be identified as the authors has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 10: 1905641621 ISBN 13: 9781905641628 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publisher. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without the prior written consent of the Publisher. Printed and bound by Cambridge University Press Designed by SoapBox No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person or corporate body acting or refraining to act as a result of reading material in this book can be accepted by the Publisher or by the Author.

Contents Foreword Darren Murphy, Managing Director, APCO UK

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Introduction Iain Dale

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The top 500 political blogs in Britain Iain Dale

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The top 100 Conservative blogs The top 100 Labour blogs The top 100 LibDem blogs The top 100 non-aligned blogs The top 30 MP blogs The top 60 media blogs The top 30 councillor blogs

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How the bloggers are making politics more challenging Steve Richards

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Why blogging matters David King and Evan Kraus

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Top 30 medical blogs

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Starting a political blog: things to think about Matt Wardman

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Under the hood: technical notes Matt Wardman

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The American political blogosphere in 2007 and beyond David Wescott

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Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2007–8

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Blogging: what’s in it for political parties? Mark Pack

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Temps de parole Aude Athimon

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Why MPs should blog! Lynne Featherstone MP

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Lefty blogs David Osler

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Local government blogs: muttering to ourselves? Lee Rowley

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The state of the left of centre blogosphere Jon Worth

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The state of the centre right blogosphere Phil Hendren

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The state of LibDem blogging in the UK Stephen Tall

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The top 10 underrated blogs

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Political blogging: the space between debate and action Gez Smith

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Blogging a dead horse Cllr Richard Booth

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Top 10 religious blogs

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Top 10 English blogs

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Women and blogging Ellee Seymour

101

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How to use humour in blogs and not come unstuck Kerron Cross

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Lasting the pace: why most blogs don't make it Liam Murray

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Political podcasting: yesterday’s news or the next big thing? Jonathan Sheppard

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Top 10 UKIP blogs

117

My first year of blogging Nich Starling

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Top 10 newcomers

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Mainstream Labour should do more blogging Conor Ryan

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The dangers of blogging Rachel North

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The state of the Welsh blogosphere Ciaran Jenkins

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Top 20 Welsh blogs

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Top 10 Plaid Cymru blogs

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The train leaving at Platform 10 Fiona Melville

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The blogging candidate Tracey Crouch

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Shotgun blogging Nadine Dorries MP

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State of the Scottish blogosphere Grant Thoms

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Top 20 Scottish blogs

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Top 20 SNP blogs

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The British blogosphere is still teething Helen Szamuely

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Political blogging down under David Farrar

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The state of green blogging

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Top 20 Green Blogs Jim Jepps

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Blogging in the anglosphere Donal Blaney

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State of the Irish blogosphere

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Top 20 Irish blogs Mick Fealty

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Journalist bloggers: gamekeepers turned poachers? Paul Linford

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Free blogging can be expensive. . . Phil Dilks

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Glossary

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Who's who in political blogging

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The directory of UK political blogs

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Foreword Darren Murphy Managing Director - APCO UK

Political blogging used to be for political anoraks. Bloggers used to be the equivalent of the strange person at the back of the branch meeting who was very passionate about something, but no one else could quite work out what or why. Everything has changed. Blogs today are not an additional fringe element of how politics is done and communicated, but an essential part of political dialogue and political reporting. Indeed, it is perhaps precisely because they mix comment, gossip, breaking news and downright nonsense that blogs can be so informative and infuriating at the same time. Blogs are impacting how we think about politics and the workings of the mainstream media in almost equal measure. And that's reflected in this second guide to political blogging, which I am pleased that APCO Worldwide continues to support. Take a look inside this guide and you will see why bloggers love to blog; why others love to hate them for it; and why political communication, including the way politicians themselves communicate, is utterly changed by the blogging phenomenon. Although the political right have blogged many of the best tunes as the medium developed, you will see here a raft of different perspectives on what political blogging is and why it is significant from left, right and centre. For me, the significance of political blogging is that it is a great leveller: Nick Robinson can blog all he likes on the BBC website (and he explains here why), but he is now competing for attention,


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not with other national broadcasters, but with bloggers from all walks of life, backgrounds, views and opinions. You don't have to be the political editor of the BBC to be heard in this medium. You just have to have a blog. There are dangers to this of course: where distortions and rumour, unmediated by any reference to the facts, can suddenly become accepted truth. But then, haven't there always been newspapers which did the same? The challenge to readers of blogs is to be discerning and discriminating. And, there is a challenge to political organisations and individuals here too: developing effective means to push your own issues, spot damaging stories as they develop, and rebutting and prebutting your opponents. In this burgeoning communication space, digital vigilance is all. It was this recognition which encouraged APCO Worldwide to develop its own specialised and comprehensive service - APCO Online - to help clients effectively manage their reputation and campaign on their issues in the digital media environment. After the success of last year's guide, this is that tricky second album. I believe it is even better than the first. Like the blogosphere itself, the guide has developed, even matured a little, over the last 12 months. And, for all of us who still secretly have that political anorak, this guide is essential reading.

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Introduction Iain Dale IAIN DALE’S DIARY: http://iaindale.blogspot.com

Early last September I had the bright idea of producing a four page flyer to promote blogging at the Conservative Conference four weeks later. I thought I'd compile a list of the Top 50 Conservative oriented blogs. It quickly developed into something bigger and ran to thirty two pages, including lists of the best Conservative, Labour, LibDem and Non-Aligned blogs. I devised a way of ranking the blogs and came up with a list of the Top 400 political blogs on the internet. APCO kindly sponsored it and somehow we managed to get it designed and printed within two weeks. It was distributed at all three party conferences. I was taken aback at the response from fellow bloggers. Even bitter political adversaries seemed to like what I had done, especially if their blogs were at the top end of the blogging hit parade. We created little blog buttons for blogs to advertise the blogging guide and the fact that their blog was included. All in all, a job well done. The only negative feedback revolved around the fact that the lists had been drawn up by a committee of one - me. I made no secret that the blogs listed were ones I liked and respected. Had I had more time, I would have involved more people in the process, but it was simply impossible. This year, I decided to open the process up completely. And so a thirty two page pamphlet has been transformed into a full-scale book. Let me start by thanking the book's publishers, Harriman House. They have developed a political specialism in a very short time and I hope this book performs well for them. My thanks


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also go to APCO Worldwide who are sponsoring the book for the second time. They have been a pleasure to deal with and their online insights will be of interest to everyone who reads the articles section. My third set of thanks go to the contributors to the book and especially to Hoby for the illustrations. We have more than thirty excellent articles from bloggers and commentators, a Who's Who section featuring pen portraits of fifty bloggers, together with a panoply of Top Tens, Twenties, Fifties and Hundreds. And at the end of the book you will find an alphabetical directory of twelve hundred UK political blogs, all coded by political affiliation or category. For the 2006 Guide I was only able to track down around 500 political blogs. Since then the size of the UK political blogosphere has doubled to around 1200 blogs. I fully expect it to double again over the next twelve months. But what does this massive growth mean? Are blogs about to make a breakthrough and challenge more conventional means of communication, or will they blow out like a candle in the wind and be replaced by some new fad? No one should exaggerate the influence of political blogs in this country. We are still a good few years behind the United States, where blogs have broken huge media stories and performed a scrutiny role which few blogs here have been able to match. It is ironic, though, that the very people in the mainstream media who seem to fear the growth of an unregulated blogosphere, have done their best to 'big' it up. Hardly a day goes by without some newspaper or magazine carrying a feature about blogs or social community sites like Facebook or Bebo. Indeed, so impressed have the MSM been that many journalists have taken up blogging themselves. The Daily Telegraph has even created a blogging platform for its readers, while The Times, Spectator, New Statesman and The Guardian have encouraged their journalists to blog themselves. Nick Robinson, Ben Brogan, Martin Bright,

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Matthew D'Ancona, Adam Boulton and many others can now be read several times a day, each time with some new light to shed on a developing story. The dividing line between the mainstream media and new media is blurring with every passing day. Several bloggers, including Chris Dillow (Stumbling and Mumbling), Tim Worstall, Tim Montgomerie and myself to name just four, now write regularly for daily newspapers. It is true to say that among politicians there is a fear of blogs. That's why fewer than five per cent of MPs blog. For councillors the proportion is even worse. If politicians had any sense (stop sniggering at the back!) they would embrace a form of communication that is instantaneous, free of charge and lacks the filter of the media. Those that have taken to blogging in a big way have found the experience liberating. Ask Richard Spring, Harriet Harman or John Redwood and they will tell you the advantages. The blinkered politicians reckon it takes too much time and might come back to haunt them. And these people are supposed to have the courage to lead us! Of late, there have also been calls for blogs to be regulated and to come under the remit of the Press Complaints Commission. Reading some blogs you can understand why, particularly the comment sections, which in some cases have come to resemble a battleground littered with bodies. Bloggers of all political persuasions have wrestled with this issue and in many cases are constrained by the capabilities of the particular blogging platform they use. There is a real conflict between the desire to allow total freedom of speech or to protect the innocent. Many have faced calls to disallow anonymous comments. After all, if people aren't willing to put their name to what they write why should they be given a platform? The honest answer to this is that, honestly, there isn't an answer. Each Blogger must judge for him or herself the right way forward for them and their blog. After trying all the different options I have chosen to pre-moderate


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comments, but to continue to allow people to comment anonymously if they want to. I get between three hundred and four hundred comments a day on my blog. Any comment which contains a swear word is liable to be deleted without explanation. From time to time I have switched moderation off, but in the end someone ends up abusing it usually the same person. It's a shame, because if people cannot reply instantly to a comment you sometimes don't get the same level of debate. PoliticalBetting.com seems to have squared this circle. This year has also seen the advent of so-called flame wars, in which one Blogger picks a fight with another in order to attract attention to themselves and attract traffic to their site. It's a sad development, perpetrated by one or two particularly sad individuals, who seem to have nothing better to do than continually insult bloggers who they disapprove of. Luckily, most people see through it. Finally, a word about the structure of this book. Unless otherwise stated, I have written all the words - in particular the introductions to the lists of blogs. I am sure I have made several errors and I take full responsibility for them. In particular, the directory of 1200 blogs no doubt contains some dead links and some omissions. Blogging is a changing world. Blogs come to life or die every day, so a totally up to date list is almost impossible to compile. If you see any mistakes or would like to alert me to the existence of a political blog I may not be aware of, please email me and I will include it in next year's edition of this book. A final word of thanks to John Schwartz who designed and typeset it in record time, to Phil Hendren who has been a constant source of help and advice and to my partner, John Simmons, for putting up with my constant keyboard tapping.

Iain Dale Tunbridge Wells, August 2007


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www.apcoworldwide.com

Reaching new heights. In today’s ever-changing communication landscape, APCO Online® helps clients shape their reputations and influence environments locally, regionally and internationally. As a recognised leader in leveraging the online channel, APCO provides strategic counsel and implementation support to help our clients succeed in ways they didn’t think possible. Contact us to find out how we can raise the bar to ensure your success. Darren Murphy, UK Managing Director APCO Worldwide tel: + 44 20 7526 3600 fax: + 44 20 7526 3699 [email protected]

David King, Associate Director APCO Online tel: + 44 20 7526 3619 fax: + 44 20 7526 3699 [email protected]

AWA R D S

2007

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The top 500 political blogs Iain Dale

When compiling a list of top blogs last year, due to constraints, I did it all myself. I scored each blog with ten criteria and out of that came the rankings. Naturally, it was all very subjective. With more time available this year I asked fellow bloggers and blog readers to come up with their Top 20 or Top 10 blogs. These were then fed into a spreadsheet, and the list of Britain’s Top 500 political blogs emerged. In some ways, it is similar to my own list last year in that many of the recognised names appear at the top of the chart. But there have been some significant new arrivals since last year’s edition was compiled, several of which feature high up the chart. Before the analysis let’s look at a few facts. Out of the Top 20, fourteen of the blogs are on the right and only two are on the left Out of the Top 100, 42 blogs are on the right and 27 are on the left Out of the Top 500 154 are on the right and 153 are on the left 9 LibDem blogs feature in the Top 100 and 50 feature in the Top 500 4 blogs written by full time journalists feature in the Top 20 and 50 are in the Top 500 So the lesson is that although right wing blogs still dominate the upper reaches of the chart, left of centre blogs are showing signs of coming to life and challenging the right. I full expect to see three or four left of centre blogs join the ‘big boys’ over the next twelve


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months, although at the moment it is difficult to see who they might be. Kerron Cross is best placed but keep an eye on Rupa Huq. Sceptics may well point to the fact that a right wing Blogger (ie me!) organised this poll and therefore the results might well be skewed in favour of the right. Indeed, the fact that people voted my blog the top blog of all, would tend to add weight to that argument (although I should say I got 60% more votes than the second placed blog Guido Fawkes, and double that of third placed blog Dizzy Thinks). However, before rushing to judgement too quickly, reflect on the fact that of the 500 people who sent in their lists, nearly half of them were clearly left of centre voters. The Top 100 blog structure very much reflects that of the football leagues. There are four blogs who, in terms of influence and traffic, are way ahead of the others – Guido Fawkes, ConservativeHome, Iain Dale’s Diary and PoliticalBetting.com. They are, if you like, the Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal of the UK blogging fraternity. You then have a few teams who might challenge in a good year – Dizzy Thinks (Everton), Devil’s Kitchen (Newcastle) and Recess Monkey (Spurs) – a few new comers who fizz into their first year with huge promise – Spectator Coffee House (Bolton), Norfolk Blogger (Wigan) and Ben Brogan (Reading) – and then a whole group of clubs who are quite happy with a mid table position – Croydonian (West Ham), Archbishop Cranmer (Middlesbrough) and Tim Worstall (Manchester City) spring to mind. There are several blogs emerging from the equivalent of the Football League Championship – Caroline Hunt, Bob Piper and the Watford supporting Kerron Cross among them. But it is further down the leagues that you find several blogs with Premier League potential. The Liberal Democrat supporting Quaquem blog, right wing ranter Donal Blaney, The Waendel Journal and Trotskyite Dave’s Part would certainly be among them.

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The challenge for all the blogs outside the top echelons is to build traffic. There is a lot written about the growing influence of UK bloggers, but there are only five or six blogs which could be said to have a mass audience. They are Guido Fawkes, ConservativeHome, Iain Dale’s Diary, EU Referendum and Political Betting. Each of these blogs has a daily readership into five figures and monthly page views of several hundred thousand. Few other blogs manage more than 1,000 daily visitors. Blogs like Dizzy Thinks, which I happen to think will break into the big time in the next twelve months, have steadily built traffic over the last year but may need one big hit to make the breakthrough. Quality of writing and insight will always win through in the end. The last twelve months has also seen several journalistic blogs spring to the forefront. The Spectator Coffee House blog is one that I thought was destined to fail because between five and ten people write for it. I thought it would be difficult for it to obtain ‘personality’, a key ingredient for success for any blog. How wrong I was. Within a few months it established itself as a daily ‘must read’, way ahead of any other mainstream media group blog. Ben Brogan is another print journalist who has taken to blogging like a duck to water. The secret of his success is that he provides snippets of insight which would never make it into the Daily Mail. His readers know he is ‘in the know’. Similarly, Nick Robinson’s success as a blogger is because he writes about things which would not make his news bulletin, or he provides added insight to an item which did. There was a time when Adam Boulton’s blog was streets ahead of Nick’s. Not any longer. No one knows where UK blogging is going to be headed over the next twelve months, least of all me. All I do hope is that next year I will be asking you all again to vote for your Top 20 blogs. And when you do, I imagine that there will be quite a few changes at the top of the leaderboard.


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THE TOP 500 POLITICAL BLOGS

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Labour LibDem Non Aligned Libertarian

Left Wing UKIP Media

Conservative SNP Green

Right Wing Plaid Cymru Humour

RANK

BLOG

DOMAIN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Iain Dale's Diary Guido Fawkes Dizzy Thinks ConservativeHome Political Betting Devil's Kitchen Croydonian Nick Robinson Spectator Coffee House Ellee Seymour Recess Monkey Burning our Money Archbishop Cranmer Benedict Brogan Tim Worstall Mr Eugenides Norfolk Blogger Paul Linford Prague Tory EU Referendum Harry's Place Tom Watson MP NHS Blog Doctor Caroline Hunt Bob Piper Fair Deal Phil Times Comment Central Tory Radio Chicken Yoghurt Ministry of Truth Kerron Cross Slugger O'Toole Nadine Dorries MP Pickled Politics Donal Blaney Boris Johnson Theo Spark Labour Home British Bullshit Foundation Biased BBC

http://iaindale.blogspot.com http://www.order-order.com http://dizzythinks.net http://www.conservativehome.com http://www.politicalbetting.com http://devilskitchen.me.uk http://croydonian.blogspot.com http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/ http://elleeseymour.com/ http://www.recessmonkey.com http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/ http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/ http://broganblog.dailymail.co.uk/ http://timworstall.typepad.com/timworstall/ http://mreugenides.blogspot.com/ http://norfolkblogger.blogspot.com/ http://paullinford.blogspot.com/ http://praguetory.blogspot.com/ http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/ http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/ http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/ http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/ http://carolinehunt.blogspot.com http://www.bobpiper.co.uk/ http://fairdealphil.blogspot.com/ http://www.timesonline.typepad.com/comment/ http://www.toryradio.com http://www.chickyog.net/ http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/ http://kerroncross.blogspot.com/ http://www.sluggerotoole.com/ http://www.dorries.org.uk/Blog.aspx http://www.pickledpolitics.com/ http://donalblaney.blogspot.com/ http://www.boris-johnson.com/ http://theospark.blogspot.com http://www.labourhome.org/ http://britishbullshitfoundation.blogspot.com/ http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/


41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91

An Englishman's Castle John Redwood Hunter & Shooter Craig Murray Samizdata Dave's Part Waendel Journal Newmania Rachel From North London The Last Ditch Our Kingdom Bloggers 4 Labour Liberal England LibDem Voice Stephen Tall Adam Smith Institute Bloggerheads Hoby Daily Referendum Bel is Thinking Quaequam The Bristow Blog Millennium Dome Elephant Suz Blog Antonia Bance WebCameron Spyblog City Unslicker James Cleverley Stumbling & Mumbling Beau Bo D'Or Luke Akehurst Newer Labour As a Dodo Edland Chris Paul Labour of Love Tartan Hero Glyn Davies UK Daily Pundit Westminster Wisdom Melanie Phillips Blair Watch Liberal Burblings 18 Doughty Street Daniel Hannan MEP Matt Wardman Mars Hill Little Man in a Toque Policeman's Blog Peter Black AM Mark Mardell

http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/ http://hunterandshooter.blogspot.com/ http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/ http://www.samizdata.net/blog http://davidosler.com http://tonysharp.blogspot.com/ http://iznewmania.blogspot.com/ http://rachelnorthlondon.blogspot.com/ http://lastditch.typepad.com/ http://ourkingdom.opendemocracy.net/ http://www.bloggers4labour.org/index.jsp http://liberalengland.blogspot.com/ http://www.libdemvoice.org http://oxfordliberal.blogspot.com/ http://www.adamsmith.org/blog http://www.bloggerheads.com/ http://hobycartoons.blogspot.com/ http://dailyreferendum.blogspot.com/ http://beltoday.com/ http://www.theliberati.net/quaequamblog/ http://thebristowblog.typepad.com/ http://millenniumelephant.blogspot.com/ http://susannelamido.blogspot.com/ http://www.antoniabance.org.uk/ http://www.webcameron.org.uk/ http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/ http://cityunslicker.blogspot.com/ http://jamescleverly.blogspot.com http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/ http://www.bbdo.co.uk/blog http://lukeakehurst.blogspot.com/ http://newerlabour.blogspot.com/ http://www.asadodo.com/ http://edclarke.blogspot.com/ http://chrispaul-labouroflove.blogspot.com/ http://tartanhero.blogspot.com/ http://glyndaviesam.blogspot.com/ http://the-daily-pundit.blogspot.com/ http://gracchii.blogspot.com/ http://www.melaniephillips.com/ http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/ http://paulwalter.blogspot.com/ http://www.18doughtystreet.com/blog http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/danielhannan/ http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/ http://paulburgin.blogspot.com/ http://www.toque.co.uk/blog/ http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/ http://peterblack.blogspot.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/


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Rolled Up Trousers Shiraz Socialist Bishop Hill Tim Roll-Pickering Paul Flynn MP Oliver Kamm Campaign for an English Parl... Ordovicius Snowflake5 Grimmer Up North Musings of a Reactionary Snob Love & Liberty UK Polling Report Skipper Laban Tall Little & Large Sinclair's Musings Miranda Grell Earthquake Cove A Very British Dude Wheeler's Website 1820.org.uk Stephen Pollard Evanomics Roger Helmer MEP The Green Ribbon John Moorcroft A Tangled Web Norm Blog Cicero's Songs Toby Harnden Jane's the One Nourishing Obscurity The Daily (Maybe) Looking for a Voice Curly's Corner Shop Adam Boulton Monbiot.com Mike Ion Iain Lindley Darlington Councillor Stroppy Blog Idiots 4 Labour Thunder Dragon Birmingham University CF PM Priti Patel Man in a Shed Taxpayer's Alliance People's Commissar of Enli... Andy Mayer

http://www.osamasaeed.org/ http://shirazsocialist.wordpress.com/ http://bishophill.squarespace.com/ http://timrollpickering.blogspot.com/ http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/ http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/ http://thecep.org.uk/news/ http://this-is-sparta.blogspot.com/ http://snowflake5.blogspot.com/ http://grimmerupnorth.blogspot.com/ http://reactionarysnob.blogspot.com/ http://loveandliberty.blogspot.com/ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/index.php http://skipper59.blogspot.com/ http://ukcommentators.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/littleandlarge http://sinclairsmusings.blogspot.com/ http://www.mirandagrell.com/ http://earthquakecove.blogspot.com/ http://brackenworld.blogspot.com/ http://www.wheelerswebsite.org.uk/ http://1820.org.uk/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/stephenpollard/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/ http://rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com/ http://tomgriffin.typepad.com/the_green_ribbon/ http://johnmoorcraft.blogspot.com/ http://atangledweb.typepad.com/ http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/ http://cicerossongs.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/foreign/tobyharnden/ http://janestheones.blogspot.com/ http://nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com/ http://jimjay.blogspot.com/ http://lookingforavoice.blogspot.com/ http://curly15.wordpress.com/ http://adamboulton.typepad.com/ http://www.monbiot.com/ http://mike-ion.blogspot.com/ http://blog.iainlindley.com/ http://darlingtoncouncillor.blogspot.com/ http://stroppyblog.blogspot.com/ http://idiots4labour.wordpress.com/ http://thethunderdragon.blogspot.com/ http://bucf.wordpress.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/ http://priti4witham.wordpress.com/ http://atoryblog.blogspot.com/ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/news/blog.php http://peoplescommissarofenlightenment.blogspot.com/ http://andymayer.blogspot.com/


143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193

Tygerland Contra Tory PJC Journal Chase me Ladies The Sharpener The Difference Rupa Huq Bryan Appleyard Theo Blackwell Scottish Patient Barry Beelzebub Mike Rouse Paul Scully Darker Side of Bridget Jones Normal Mouth Pub Philosopher Drink Soaked Trotskyite Pop... Not Saussure Peter Hitchens Philobiblon Paul Kingsnorth Istanbul Tory Three Score Years & Ten England Project Labour Humanist Nosemonkey Europhobia Political Hack UK Britain & America Snedds Lynne Featherstone MP Open Secrets Crushed by Ingsoc Hot, Ginger & Dynamite A Conservative's Blog Richard Corbett MEP Nation of Shopkeepers Miserable Old Fart Dr Rant Gauche Socialist Unity Corporate Presenter Ghost of the Hitch Liberal Bureaucracy Stephen Newton's Diary David Gold The F Word Betsan Powys Ruscombe Green Nanny Knows Best Liberal Mafia Bethan Jenkins

http://tygerland.net/ http://www.contratory.co.uk/ http://thejournal.parker-joseph.co.uk/blog http://chasemeladies.blogspot.com/ http://www.thesharpener.net/ http://thedifferencemagazine.blogspot.com/ http://rupahuq.wordpress.com/ http://www.bryanappleyard.com/blog/ http://regentsparklabour.blogspot.com/ http://kevinwilliamson.blogspot.com/ http://barrybeelzebub.blogspot.com/ http://www.mikerouse.net/ http://paulscully.blogspot.com/ http://darkersideofbridgetjones.blogspot.com/ http://normalmouth.blogspot.com/ http://pubphilosopher.blogs.com/ http://drinksoakedtrotsforwar.blogspot.com/ http://notsaussure.wordpress.com/ http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/ http://philobiblon.co.uk/ http://www.paulkingsnorth.net/blog.html http://istanbultory.blogspot.com/ http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/ http://www.theenglandproject.net/wordpress/ http://www.labourhumanists.org.uk/ http://www.jcm.org.uk/blog/ http://politicalhackuk.blogspot.com/ http://britainandamerica.typepad.com/ http://www.snedds.co.uk/ http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/blog.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/ http://crushedbyingsoc.blogspot.com/ http://gingeranddynamite.blogspot.com/ http://aconservatives.blogspot.com/ http://www.richardcorbett.org.uk/blog/ http://nationofshopkeepers.wordpress.com/ http://miserableoldfart.blogspot.com/ http://www.drrant.net/ http://libsoc.blogspot.com/ http://socialistunity.com/ http://corporatepresenter.blogspot.com/ http://theghostofthehitch.blogspot.com/ http://liberalbureaucracy.blogspot.com/ http://www.stephennewton.com/ http://www.davidgold4eltham.com/ http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/index http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/betsanpowys/ http://ruscombegreen.blogspot.com/ http://nannyknowsbest.blogspot.com/ http://liberalimafia.blogspot.com http://bethanjenkins.blogspot.com/


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8

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194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244

Blood & Treasure Obsolete Blether with Brian Waking Hereward S J Howard Hug a Hoodie Another Green World Raedwald Open Europe Terry Watch Linguanaut Labour's Fightback Lenin's Tomb West Brom Blog Adam Price MP Matt Davies Wonko's World Martine Martin's Lebwog Dodgeblogium Scottish Co-Operative... Ranting Stan Neue Arbeit Macht Frei A Conservative Mind British Politics Nicolas Webb Colin Ross Antony Little Young Unionists Clive Davis Media Lens Three Thousand Versts... Remittance Man A Pint of Unionist Lite Tigmoo Longrider Civitas Vaughan Roderick Vino's Political Blog Patrick Cusworth Lindyloo's Muze Angels in Marble Gaian Economics Graeme Archer Dylan Jones-Evans Some Day I Will Treat You Good Huw Lewis AM Brussels Journal Social Europe Parbury Politica J Arthur Macnumpty Greenwich Watch

http://bloodandtreasure.typepad.com/blood_treasure/ http://www.septicisle.info/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/briantaylor/ http://wakinghereward.blogspot.com/ http://sjhoward.co.uk/ http://hugahoodie.blogspot.com/ http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/ http://raedwald.blogspot.com/ http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.com/ http://terrywatch.blogspot.com/ http://saiminu.blogspot.com/ http://laboursfightback.blogspot.com/ http://leninology.blogspot.com/ http://westbromblog.blogspot.com/ http://www.adampriceblog.org.uk/ http://mattdaviesharingey.blogspot.com/ http://www.wonkosworld.co.uk/wordpress/ http://www.martinemartin.co.uk/ http://www.andrewiandodge.com/ http://scwr.blogspot.com/ http://rantingstan.blogspot.com/ http://neuearbeitmachtfrei.blogspot.com/ http://conservativemindc4.blogspot.com/ http://britishspin.blogspot.com/ http://www.nicolaswebb.com/ http://www.colin-ross.org.uk/ http://antonylittle.blogspot.com http://www.youngunionists.org.uk/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/clivedavis/ http://www.medialens.org/ http://threethousandversts.blogspot.com/ http://remittanceman.blogspot.com/ http://unionistlite.blogspot.com/ http://www.tigmoo.co.uk/ http://www.longrider.co.uk/blog/ http://www.civitas.org.uk/blog/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/vaughanroderick/ http://vinospoliticalblog.blogspot.com/ http://patriccus.blogspot.com/ http://lindyloosmuze.blogspot.com/ http://hatfieldgirl.blogspot.com/ http://gaianeconomics.blogspot.com/ http://e9life.blogspot.com/ http://dylanje.blogspot.com/ http://andrewkbrown.wordpress.com/ http://www.huwlewis.co.uk/ http://www.brusselsjournal.com/ http://www.blog.social-europe.eu/ http://parburypolitica.blogspot.com/ http://macnumpty.blogspot.com/ http://greenwichwatch.blogspot.com/


245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295

Austin Mitchell MP YBF Activists Ian Hamilton QC Downing Street Says Never Trust a Hippy Jeffrey Archer James O'Malley: Living Legend Between the Hammer &... Matt T Fibdems Niles's Blog England Expects Mabinogogiblog No Geek is an Island General Theory of Rubbish Eric Lee Belsize LibDems Random Acts of Reality Not Proud of Britain Let's be Sensible Jock Coats Grendel Freedom & Whisky Jag Singh Union Futures Regalis If Sam Tarran Was in Charge Jonathan Fryer Omar's Blog Luke Akehurst Parody Blog Liberal Alone BBC Editors' Blog Nether-World Wouldn't it be Scarier… GWE Mutley the Dog The Spine Skud's Sister's Brother Disgruntled Radical What You Can Get Away With Jeremy Hargreaves Mary Reid Cascittuni Your Friend in the North Stuart King Social Affairs Unit Revolts Postman Patel Phil Taylor New Culture Forum Gavin Ayling

http://www.austinmitchell.org/ http://ybfblog.wordpress.com http://www.ianhamiltonqc.com/wordpress/ http://www.downingstreetsays.com/ http://nevertrustahippy.blogspot.com/ http://jeffreyarchers.blogspot.com http://jamesomalley.co.uk/blog/ http://flyingrodent.blogspot.com/ http://www.matthewturner.co.uk/Blog/ http://fibdems.blogspot.com/ http://www.alexfoster.me.uk/ http://englandexpects.blogspot.com/ http://greenerblog.blogspot.com/ http://www.willhowells.org.uk/blog/ http://www.gentheoryrubbish.com/ http://www.ericlee.info/ http://www.belsizelibdems.org.uk/ http://randomreality.blogware.com/ http://notproudofbritain.blogspot.com/ http://letsbesensible.blogspot.com/ http://jockcoats.blogspot.com/ http://grendel-grendel.blogspot.com/ http://freedomandwhisky.blogspot.com/ http://www.jsingh.net/blog/ http://unionfutures.blogspot.com/ http://theregalis.blogspot.com/ http://samtarran.blogspot.com/ http://jonathanfryer.wordpress.com/ http://www.omarsalem.com/ http://lukeakehurstsblog.blogspot.com/ http://www.eridu.org.uk/blog/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/ http://nether-world.blogspot.com/ http://mindrobber.blogspot.com/ http://g-w-e.blogspot.com/ http://mutleythedogsdayout.blogspot.com/ http://www.the-spine.com/ http://skuds.co.uk/ http://disgruntledradical.blogspot.com/ http://www.nickbarlow.com/blog/ http://www.jeremyhargreaves.org/blog http://www.maryreid.org.uk/ http://cascittuni.blogspot.com/ http://yourfriendinthenorth.blogspot.com/ http://www.stuartking.net/blog/ http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/ http://www.revolts.co.uk http://postmanpatel.blogspot.com/ http://www.philtaylor.org.uk/ http://newcultureforum.blogspot.com/ http://www.gavweb.net/blog/


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10

296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346

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Dasmirnov Alasdair Ross Richard Baum Mailstrom Inspector Gadget Hen Rech Flin Everyday Social Democracy Anthony McEweon Sian Berry Valleys Mam Camden Kiwi Pox Anglorum Blog Menai Muslim Matters Michael Russell's (Other) Blog Libertarian Alliance Some Random Thoughts Joe's Extra Bold Blog Joy of Curmudgeonry Compass Youth Free Market Fairytales Diary of Chris K Britology Watch Big Tommy Speaks Out Ann Garner Richard Spring Rachel Joyce Ghost Cabinet Socialism or Your Money Back Labour Movement for Europe Liberal Legend II Tom Nairn Past Present & Future Process Guy Pink Dog Labour & Capital David Nikel Cross of St George Bread & Circuses Michael Edwardes Barcharters Anonymous Educational Conscription Annibyniaeth i Gymru Jonathan Wallace Save the Ribble Politics for People Witanagemot Club Pootergeek Globalisation Institute Indigo Public Affairs EU Serf

http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/ http://alasdairross.blogspot.com/ http://richardbaum.blogspot.com/ http://mailstrom.blogspot.com/ http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/ http://henrechflin.blogspot.com/ http://everydaysocialdemocracy.blogspot.com/ http://anthonymckeown.info/blog.html http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/sian-berry http://merchmerthyr.blogspot.com/ http://www.camdenkiwi.org/ http://poxanglorum.blogspot.com/ http://oclmenai.blogspot.com/ http://muslimmatters.org/ http://michaelrussellsnp.blogspot.com/ http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com/ http://jrd168.blogspot.com/ http://joeotten.blogspot.com/ http://curmudgeonjoy.blogspot.com/ http://compassyouth.blogspot.com/ http://www.fmft.net/ http://clickeral.blogspot.com/ http://britologywatch.wordpress.com/ http://bigtommygspeaks.blogspot.com/ http://anngarner.blogspot.com/ http://richardspring.mpblogs.com/ http://racheljoyce.blogspot.com/ http://ghostcabinet.blogspot.com/ http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/ http://www.lme-lse.org.uk/blog/ http://liberallegend2.blogspot.com/ http://web.mac.com/tomnairn/iWeb/Site%203/Blog/Blog.html http://shorno.net/ http://processguy.blogspot.com/ http://pinkdogster.blogspot.com/ http://labourandcapital.blogspot.com/ http://davidnikel.wordpress.com/ http://crossofstgeorge.net/news/blog.php http://bread-and-circuses.net/ http://blogs.labour.org.uk/michaeledwards http://barcharter.blogspot.com/ http://appallingstupidity.blogspot.com/ http://annibyniaeth.blogspot.com/ http://jonathanwallace.blogspot.com/ http://save-the-ribble.blogspot.com http://politicsforpeople.blogspot.com/ http://www.toque.co.uk/witan/ http://www.pootergeek.com/ http://www.globalisation.eu/blog/ http://indigopublicaffairs.wordpress.com/ http://eu-serf.blogspot.com/


347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397

David Cornock Hak Mao Five Chinese Crackers Ceredig Councillor Terry Kelly D-Notice Fat Man on a Keyboard Prison Law Inside Out Weblog Cartoons Very British Subjects Make My Vote Count BellgroveBelle Andrew Bridgen Steph's Blog Random Pottins Patience & Perseverance Islington Conservatives Tommy English L'Ombre de mon Ombre Political Penguin Dhimmi Watch Tracey Crouch Dad Blog Allan Andrews To Miss With Love Republic of Hyde Park Playing Against the Spin Mind the Gap Kristofer Wilson Dan Hardie Tiger Tales Jon's Union Blog Liberal Leslie Bath Conservative Future Black Triangle John's Labour Blog Prodicus Magistrate's Blog Yorkshire Ranter Rights of Man Steyn Online Southpaw Punch Rowan Cole Nighthawk Paul Leake Natalie Solent Kitnotes Henry North London Fulham Reactionary House of Dumb Dirty Leftie

http://davidcornock.blogspot.com/ http://blog.hakmao.com/ http://5cc.blogspot.com/ http://ceredig.blogspot.com/ http://councillorterrykelly.blogspot.com/ http://d-notice.blogspot.com/ http://fatmanonakeyboard.blogspot.com/ http://prisonersvoice.blogspot.com http://www.weblogcartoons.com/ http://verybritishsubjects.blogspot.com/ http://www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/blog/ http://bellgrovebelle.blogspot.com/ http://www.andrewbridgen.com/andrews-blog http://stephi.blog.co.uk/ http://randompottins.blogspot.com/ http://patienceandperseverance.blogspot.com/ http://islingtonconservatives.blogspot.com/ http://in-ger-land.blogspot.com/ http://lombredemonombre.blogspot.com/ http://www.politicalpenguin.org.uk/ http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/ http://blog.traceycrouch.org/ http://www.dadblog.co.uk/ http://www.allanandrews.co.uk/wp2/index.php http://tomisswithlove.blogspot.com/ http://republicofhydepark.blogspot.com/ http://playingagainstthespin.wordpress.com/ http://mindthegapcardiff.blogspot.com/ http://kristoferwilson.blogspot.com/ http://danhardie.wordpress.com/ http://assemblytigertales.blogspot.com/ http://jonrogers1963.blogspot.com/ http://www.liberalleslie.blog.co.uk/ http://www.bathcf.co.uk/ http://blacktriangle.org/blog/ http://grayee.blogspot.com http://prodicus.blogspot.com/ http://thelawwestofealingbroadway.blogspot.com/ http://yorkshire-ranter.blogspot.com/ http://www.therightsofman.typepad.co.uk/ http://www.steynonline.com/ http://southpawpunch.blogspot.com/ http://rowancolesblog.blogspot.com/ http://s170032534.websitehome.co.uk/nighthawk/ http://paulleake.org.uk/ http://nataliesolent.blogspot.com/ http://kitnotes.org.uk/ http://henrynorthlondon.blogspot.com/ http://fulhamreactionary.blogspot.com/ http://houseofdumb.blogspot.com/ http://www.dirtyleftie.co.uk/


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12

398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448

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Sword in the Lake Elliott Joseph Liscard & Egremont News Charlie Beckett Transpero Ruth Gledhill Strange Stuff Splintered Sunrise I Intend to Escape Michael Greenwell Libertarianuk.net All About Nothing Kick Aas Sharp Side Edward Lucas Duncan Borrowman Anastasia Beaumont-Bott Green Girl's Global Yellow Swordfish Mayorwatch English Democrats Newsblog United Irelander Cowan Report Matt Withers Liberal Polemic Mediocracy Small Nation Malcom Redfellow Revivius Nation of Duncan Something Fishy Depleted Uranium A View from the Right Peter Kenyon Ed Vaizey Lancaster UAF Alan Dobbie Mr Chalk Wongablog Tribune Cartoons Select Society The Huntsman Bookdrunk Mary Foulkes Parti Socialiste London Kezia Dugdale's Soapbox Blog of Kev Eric Avebury Zin Zine Cruella-blog For a Conservengland

http://swordinthelake.blogspot.com/ http://elliottjoseph.blogspot.com https://leahfraser.wordpress.com/ http://www.charliebeckett.org/ http://transpero.net/blog/ http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/ http://strange_stuff.blogspot.com/ http://splinteredsunrise.wordpress.com/ http://paulstott.typepad.com/ http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/ http://libertarianuk.net http://leongreen.wordpress.com/ http://kickaas.typepad.com/ http://ellissharp.blogspot.com/ http://edwardlucas.blogspot.com/ http://duncanborrowman.blogspot.com/ http://anastasiabeaumontbott.blogspot.com/ http://greengirlsglobal.com http://www.yellowswordfish.com/ http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/comment/ http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk/news.php http://unitedirelander.blogspot.com/ http://thecowanreport.blogspot.com/ http://mattwithers.welshblogs.co.uk/ http://liberalpolemic.blogspot.com http://inversions-and-deceptions.blogspot.com/ http://smallnation.org/drupal/ http://redfellow.blogspot.com/ http://nation-of-duncan.blogspot.com/ http://haddock-somethingfishy.blogspot.com/ http://depleteduranium.wordpress.com/ http://stevenbainbridge.blogspot.com/ http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/ http://www.edvaizey.mpblogs.com http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/ http://alandobbie.blogspot.com/index.html http://frankchalk.blogspot.com/ http://wongablog.co.uk/ http://tribunecartoons.blogspot.com/ http://theselectsociety.com/blog/ http://thehuntsman2007.blogspot.com/ http://rhetoricallyspeaking.blogspot.com/ http://maryfoulkes.blogspot.com http://londres.parti-socialiste.fr/ http://keziadugdale.blogspot.com/ http://kevsoft.co.uk/ http://ericavebury.blogspot.com/ http://dokcyezz.blogspot.com/ http://cruellablog.blogspot.com/ http://cricketandcivilisation.blogspot.com/ http://conserengland.blogspot.com


449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 498 499 500

Burke's Corner British Nationalists in Wales... Leanne Wood AM Is There More to Life Than... Gavin Yates Eaten by Missionaries Platform 10 Nick Cohen Many Angry Gerbils Mike Barker A Young Conservative Ali Miraj Keir Gravil HfConwatch Balrog Fairfield Life Electro Kevin Disillusioned Kid Ciara Leeming Jon Worth Euroblog Greenman's Occasional Blog Right for Scotland Real Power to the People Free Born John Sandals are Off Leighton Andrews AM Ian Lewis Edinburgh Sucks Newsnight Blog Blogging for Merton Welfare State We're In Poliblogs Poldraw Pamphlet Labour Don Paskini View from the Glen Renegade Eye Matt Buck Live from the Socialist Fortress Anyone But Ken Global Power Europe Wales World Nation Shuggy Mens Sana Indygal Brighton Regency Labour Party John Hemming Trevor Ivory Martin Bright Grandma was a Suffragette Steve Webb MP

http://burkescorner.blogspot.com/ http://british-nats-watch.blogspot.com/ http://www.welshpolitics.com/ http://more-to-life-than-shoes.blogspot.com/ http://gymedia.wordpress.com/ http://eatenbymissionaries.blogspot.com http://www.platform10.org http://www.nickcohen.net/ http://www.manyangrygerbils.typepad.com/ http://cllrmikebarker.blogspot.com/ http://a-young-conservative.blogspot.com/ http://www.alimiraj.com/ http://keirgravil.blogspot.com/ http://hfconwatch.blogspot.com/ http://gaskinbalrog.blogspot.com/ http://fairfieldlife.blogspot.com/ http://electro-kevin-electrokevin.blogspot.com/ http://disillusionedkid.blogspot.com/ http://ciaraleeming.blogspot.com/ http://blog.jonworth.eu/ http://greenmansoccasional.blogspot.com http://rightforscotland.blogspot.com/ http://realpowertothepeople.blogspot.com/ http://freebornjohn.blogspot.com/ http://www.sguy.net/ http://www.leightonandrews.com http://www.ianlewis.org.uk/ http://www.edinburghsucks.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/ http://whelton.blogspot.com/ http://thewelfarestatewerein.com http://thepoliblogs.blogspot.com/ http://poldraw.wordpress.com/ http://pamphletlabour.wordpress.com/ http://don-paskini.blogspot.com/ http://cwmview.blogspot.com/ http://advant.blogspot.com/ http://www-hack.blogspot.com/ http://lukejyoung.blogspot.com/ http://anyonebutken.blogspot.com/ http://wwwglobalpowereurope.eu http://walesworldnation.welshblogs.co.uk/ http://modies.blogspot.com/ http://menssana.wordpress.com/ http://indygal.blog.com/ http://brightonregencylabourparty.blogspot.com/ http://johnhemming.blogspot.com/ http://trevorivory.blogspot.com http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/brights-blog http://modernbluestocking.blogspot.com/ http://webbsteve.blogspot.com/


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The top 100 Conservative blogs The right of centre blogosphere is thought by many to be in a state of rude health. It is more diverse, radical and influential than its left of centre counterpart, but still there are only seven or eight right wing blogs which have a mass readership. This list was ranked by a group of right of centre bloggers. Their decision reflects in large part the rankings of the Top 500 list, chosen by more than 500 bloggers and blog readers, with one or two exceptions. The exceptions are James Cleverly and the Waendel Journal who are ranked more highly in this list, and Ellee Seymour who is in the top ten on the main list but only scrapes into the top twenty on this list. Ellee has established herself in the front line of British political blogging, but her softer, more personal approach may not have been to the the panel’s liking. You can’t win ‘em all! Another female Blogger who has made an impact is Caroline Hunt, whose ‘devil may care’ attitude has attracted a number of admirers. Of the top four, Dizzy Thinks, in the person of Phil Hendren, has emerged as possibly the most improved blog of the year, which is reflected in his second position in this list and third in the overall list. He has broken a number of stories and his forensic analysis continues to impress. He doesn’t let his love of IT geekery dominate the blog, and he manages to find story after story in the pages of Hansard, which the mainstream media then follows up. Guido Fawkes has not had his best year and he would be the first to admit it. His Newsnight appearance alongside Michael White was the blogging equivalent of David Davis’s 2005 party

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conference speech. It wasn’t quite as bad as it appeared at the time, but it did do him – and indeed the blogosphere – a considerable amount of damage. Despite that, his traffic levels have held up well. ConservativeHome has dropped to number four in this list and I am slightly at a loss to know why. It has had an excellent, if overdue, redesign and although it went through a rough patch earlier in the year it is back to its fighting best. Not everyone likes its editorial stance, and it will be interesting to see how Platform 10, its new Cameroonian rival, competes in both analysis and storygetting. It will do well to rival Tim Montgomerie’s contacts, but perhaps that’s not the point. In fact, there is no reason why Platform 10 and ConservativeHome should be considered rivals. Time will tell. Nadine Dorries is perhaps the brightest new entrant into the blogging world. The Tory MP for Mid Befordshire has some trenchant views and she’s not backward in coming forward in expressing them, much to the chagrin of the Conservative whips. In a very short time she’s created a cult. Her blog is the one most read by her fellow MPs – and not just Tories. John Redwood has become a truly prolific Blogger. He is very different in style to Nadine, but if you want insightful analysis into the economy, regulation and globalisation, John Redwood’s Diary is the place for you! This year has seen the advent of a number of right of centre blogs run by think tanks and pressure groups. Foremost among them are the Adam Smith Institute, Civitas, the Social Affairs Unit, Open Europe, the Globalisation Institute and the Taxpayers’ Alliance. My blogs to watch over the next twelve months include Matt Wardman, Mike Rouse, Glyn Davies and Donal Blaney.


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THE TOP 100 CONSERVATIVE BLOGS

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RANK

2006

BLOG

DOMAIN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

2 5 NEW 1 14 8 3 NEW NEW 7 23 NEW NEW NEW NEW 64 11 4 9 56 NEW NEW NEW NEW 52 NEW NEW 36 58 NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW 48 18 NEW NEW NEW 50 NEW NEW 22 NEW 65 NEW NEW NEW

Iain Dale’s Diary Dizzy Thinks Guido Fawkes ConservativeHome Croydonian Archbishop Cranmer Burning our Money Devil's Kitchen Tim Worstall James Cleverly Mr Eugenides Waendel Journal Nadine Dorries MP Adam Smith Institute Donal Blaney Prague Tory Tory Radio Boris Johnson Ellee Seymour Caroline Hunt Daily Referendum EU Referendum Sinclair's Musings An Englishman's Castle Theo Spark John Redwood MP Daniel Hannan MEP UK Daily Pundit Freedom & Whiskey Mike Rouse Roger Helmer MEP Islington Newmania City Unslicker Matt Wardman Man in a Shed Dodgeblogium Nourishing Obscurity Samizdata Taxpayers' Alliance Martine Martin's Lebwog Daily Propaganda Musings of a Reactionary Snob Bel is Thinking Prodicus A Very British Dude WebCameron Priti Patel Richard Spring MP

http://iaindale.blogspot.com http://dizzythinks.net http://order-order.com http://www.conservativehome.com http://croydonian.blogspot.com http://www.archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/ http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/ http://devilskitchen.me.uk http://timworstall.typepad.com/timworstall/ http://jamescleverly.blogspot.com http://www.mreugenides.blogspot.com/ http://www.tonysharp.blogspot.com/ http://www.dorries.org.uk/Blog.aspx http://www.adamsmith.org/blog http://donalblaney.blogspot.com/ http://praguetory.blogspot.com/ http://www.toryradio.com http://www.boris-johnson.com/ http://elleeseymour.com/ http://www.carolinehunt.blogspot.com http://dailyreferendum.blogspot.com/ http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/ http://sinclairsmusings.blogspot.com/ http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ http://theospark.blogspot.com http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/danielhannan/ http://the-daily-pundit.blogspot.com/ http://freedomandwhisky.blogspot.com/ http://www.mikerouse.net/ http://rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com/ http://iznewmania.blogspot.com/ http://www.cityunslicker.blogspot.com/ http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/ http://atoryblog.blogspot.com/ http://www.andrewiandodge.com/ http://nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com/ http://www.samizdata.net/blog http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/news/blog.php http://www.martinemartin.co.uk/ http://www.dailypropaganda.co.uk/ http://reactionarysnob.blogspot.com/ http://beltoday.com/ http://prodicus.blogspot.com/ http://brackenworld.blogspot.com/ http://www.webcameron.org.uk/ http://priti4witham.wordpress.com/ http://richardspring.mpblogs.com/

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49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

28 NEW NEW NEW NEW 79 NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW 31 NEW NEW 27 NEW 72 41 57 NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW 37 46 NEW NEW 89 24 13 NEW NEW NEW NEW 17 NEW NEW NEW NEW 38 NEW NEW 49 NEW NEW NEW NEW 71

A Tangled Web Edland Nation of Shopkeepers Not Proud of Britain The Bristow Blog Thunder Dragon Glyn Davies Little Man in a Toque Globalisation Institute Britain & America Last Ditch Gavin Ayling Vicky Ford Birmingham University CF Ed Vaizey MP Is there more to life than shoes? Conservative Party Reptile A Conservative's Blog Last Boy Scout Tory Reform Group Ghost of the Hitch John Moorcraft Blognor Regis England Expects Rachel Joyce PJC Journal David Gold Tim Roll Pickering Remittance Man Tapestry Talks Platform 10 Curly's Corner Shop Road to EU Serfdom West Brom Blog David Jones MP Istanbul Tory Neue Arbeit Macht Frei Pub Philosopher Trevor Ivory Brussels Journal The Crossed Pond Not a Sheep Maybe a Goat YBF Activists Contra Tory Scottish Tory Boy Hunter & Shooter Civitas Cross of St George Nicolas Webb Martin Kelly Cornerstone Laban Tall

http://atangledweb.typepad.com/ http://edclarke.blogspot.com/ http://nationofshopkeepers.wordpress.com/ http://notproudofbritain.blogspot.com/ http://thebristowblog.typepad.com/ http://thethunderdragon.blogspot.com/ http://glyndaviesam.blogspot.com/ http://www.toque.co.uk/blog/ http://www.globalisationinstitute.org/blog/ http://britainandamerica.typepad.com/ http://lastditch.typepad.com/ http://www.gavweb.net/blog/ http://vickyford.blogspot.com/ http://bucf.wordpress.com/ http://www.edvaizey.mpblogs.com http://more-to-life-than-shoes.blogspot.com/ http://partyreptile.blogspot.com/ http://aconservatives.blogspot.com/ http://www.lastboyscoutblog.net/ http://toryreformgroup.wordpress.com/ http://theghostofthehitch.blogspot.com/ http://johnmoorcraft.blogspot.com/ http://www.blognorregis.blogspot.com/ http://englandexpects.blogspot.com/ http://racheljoyce.blogspot.com/ http://thejournal.parker-joseph.co.uk/blog http://www.davidgold4eltham.com/ http://timrollpickering.blogspot.com/ http://remittanceman.blogspot.com/ http://tapestrytalks.typepad.com/ http://www.platform10.org http://curly15.wordpress.com/ http://eu-serf.blogspot.com/ http://westbromblog.blogspot.com/ http://davidjonesclwydwest.blogspot.com/ http://istanbultory.blogspot.com/ http://neuearbeitmachtfrei.blogspot.com/ http://pubphilosopher.blogs.com/ http://www.trevor-ivory.blogspot.com/ http://www.brusselsjournal.com/ http://thecrossedpond.com/ http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.com/ http://ybfblog.wordpress.com http://www.contratory.co.uk/ http://scottishtoryboy.blogspot.com/ http://www.hunterandshooter.blogspot.com/ http://www.civitas.org.uk/blog/ http://crossofstgeorge.net/news/blog.php http://www.nicolaswebb.com/ http://martinkelly.blogspot.com/ http://cornerstonegroup.wordpress.com/ http://ukcommentators.blogspot.com/


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17

The top 100 Labour blogs There are all sorts of theories as to why the left wing blogosphere in Britain hasn’t really taken off, many of which are discussed elsewhere in this book. But it is a truism to say that there is not a single left leaning blog which attracts a mass audience and the kind of influence enjoyed by several right of centre blogs. The challenge for the left over the next twelve months is to put that right. This list of the 100 best left of centre blogs has been compiled by a group of Labour bloggers. It reflects much of the voting in the main top 500 blogs list in that Recess Monkey is considered to be the top rated left wing blog in Britain. In some ways, it’s an odd choice as posting has been irregular and the monkey got a lot of egg on his face for prematurely announcing the death of Margaret Thatcher earlier in the year. Labour MP Tom Watson follows closely behind (in fact he missed out on the top position by only one point in the voting!) in second place. Watson was one of the first blogging politicians in the country and while his blog has gone through long periods of inactivity, his resignation from the government last summer made the first Minister ever to resign to spend more time with his blog. And he used it to the full. He’s become prolific in the number of times he posts, although his one line posts often serve to irritate rather than inform. He’s become amazingly partisan, but if there are five Labour ‘must-visit’ blogs, then Watson’s is one of them. Kerron Cross and Bob Piper were last year’s top two, but have dropped down to three and four respectively. Bob Piper got so fed up with attacks on him by the Tory blogger Prague Tory last year that he gave up blogging for a couple of months. But he returned,

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with a new blog design and soon picked up where he left off. He’s got a sense of humour to die for and can see through waffle and obfuscation with a searing wit. Kerron Cross is also a very funny chap – sometimes a bit too funny even for himself! Kerron could be the big left wing Blogger which the left is constantly searching for. But he’s got to break out of funny stories to do with parliamentary lavatories. My suspicion is that he likes what he does and doesn’t wish to change. In common with its LibDem counterpart, Labour Home hasn’t really hit the mark. ConservativeHome has left both of them trailing in its wake. Its position at number 5 in this list is somewhat surprising. The weakness of the left wing blogosphere is highlighted by the highest new entry, Chris Paul’s Labour of Love at number eight. Paul seems to spend half his time commenting on me or what I have commented on. His conspiracies and paranoia are often hilarious to read, but if this is a true representation of the left of centre blogosphere then God help us all. Dave’s Part is perhaps the best known blog on the extreme left. Written by Trotskyite David Osler it is brilliantly written and often extremely insightful. It deserves a higher position than number nine. But don’t let me try to persuade you that there aren’t good and upcoming left of centre blogs. While they may take great delight in slagging me off to their hearts’ content, the Ministry of Truth (new entry at nineteen) and Tygerland (twenty four) are two blogs who like to take a forensic approach to an issue. The Ministry of Truth in particular seems to write a book, rather than a blogpost sometimes, and gets to the heart of the matter. He sometimes gets it wrong (don’t we all) but on other occasions his forensic detective work has given a story a much needed push.


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THE TOP 100 LABOUR BLOGS

20

RANK

2006

BLOG

DOMAIN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

NEW 7 1 2 3 17 32 NEW 8 35 73 NEW NEW NEW 5 NEW 9 4 NEW NEW 70 NEW NEW 14 NEW 13 NEW NEW 19 NEW 21 100 NEW 42 NEW 30 NEW NEW 65 10 61 76 29 NEW NEW NEW NEW 12

Recess Monkey Tom Watson MP Kerron Cross Bob Piper Labour Home Bloggers 4 Labour Newer Labour Chris Paul's Labour of Love Dave's Part Luke Akehurst Fair Deal Phil Chicken Yoghurt Paul Flynn MP Bloggerheads Antonia Bance British Bullshit Foundation Mars Hill Harry's Place Ministry of Truth John Angliss Three Score Years & Ten Rupa Huq Skipper Tygerland Jag Singh Mike Ion Parburypolitica Byrne Baby Byrne General Theory of Rubbish Stumbling & Mumbling Austin Mitchell MP Snowflake 5 Grimmer Up North Richard Corbett MEP Shiraz Socialist Labour Humanatist Group Drink Soaked Trotsykite . . . Hak Mao Jane's the One Jon Worth Euroblog Omar's Blog Miranda Grell Political Hack UK Tigmoo Jon's Union Blog Peter Wheeler Theo Blackwell Normblog

http://www.recessmonkey.com http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/ http://kerroncross.blogspot.com/ http://www.bobpiper.co.uk/ http://www.labourhome.org/ http://www.bloggers4labour.org/index.jsp http://newerlabour.blogspot.com/ http://chrispaul-labouroflove.blogspot.com/ http://davidosler.com http://www.lukeakehurst.blogspot.com/ http://fairdealphil.blogspot.com/ http://www.chickyog.net/ http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/ http://www.bloggerheads.com/ http://www.antoniabance.org.uk/ http://britishbullshitfoundation.blogspot.com/ http://paulburgin.blogspot.com/ http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/ http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/ http://jangliss.livejournal.com/ http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/ http://rupahuq.wordpress.com/ http://skipper59.blogspot.com/ http://tygerland.net/ http://www.jsingh.net/blog/ http://www.mike-ion.blogspot.com/ http://parburypolitica.blogspot.com/ http://www.byrnebabybyrne.com/ http://www.gentheoryrubbish.com/ http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/ http://www.austinmitchell.org/ http://snowflake5.blogspot.com/ http://grimmerupnorth.blogspot.com/ http://www.richardcorbett.org.uk/blog/ http://shirazsocialist.wordpress.com/ http://www.labourhumanists.org.uk/ http://drinksoakedtrotsforwar.blogspot.com/ http://blog.hakmao.com/ http://www.janestheones.blogspot.com/ http://blog.jonworth.eu/ http://www.omarsalem.com/ http://www.mirandagrell.com/ http://politicalhackuk.blogspot.com/ http://www.tigmoo.co.uk/ http://jonrogers1963.blogspot.com/ http://www.wheelerswebsite.org.uk/ http://regentsparklabour.blogspot.com/ http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/

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49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

NEW NEW 31 74 NEW NEW 62 39 23 NEW NEW NEW NEW 59 50 57 NEW NEW NEW NEW 24 NEW NEW NEW 72 NEW 81 NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW 93 NEW 80 NEW NEW 64 NEW

Political Penguin Johninnit Snedds Stephen Newton's Diary of Sorts Blood & Treasure Geoff Sez Brighton Regency Labour Party Ridiculous Politics Barry's Beef Idiots 4 Labour Some Random Thoughts John's Labour Blog Bexley Young Labour Skuds' Sister's Brother Gauche Pootergeek Fat Man in the Bathtub Social Europe Furber World Labour Left Forum Leighton Andrews AM Political Futures Conor's Commentary Obsolete Black Triangle Five Chinese Crackers Baggage Reclaim Tales from the Sports & Social Stroppy Blog Stuart Bruce Cloud in Trousers Gordon's Gofer Random Pottins Wongablog Yorkshire Ranter Book Drunk Citizen Andreas Labour and Capital Michael Meacher MP Complex System of Pipes Big Stick & Small Carrot Mike's Little Red Page Potlatch Unoriginal Name 38 People's Commissar . . . Rhod on Public Affairs Sharp Side Gareth Griffiths Never Trust a Hippy Some Day I Will Treat You Good Could have been a contender Darlington Councillor

http://www.politicalpenguin.org.uk/ http://www.johninnit.co.uk/ http://www.snedds.co.uk/ http://www.stephennewton.com/ http://bloodandtreasure.typepad.com/blood_treasure/ http://www.geoffsez.blogspot.com/ http://brightonregencylabourparty.blogspot.com/ http://ridiculouspolitics.blogspot.com/ http://www.barrysbeef.blogspot.com/ http://idiots4labour.wordpress.com/ http://jrd168.blogspot.com/ http://grayee.blogspot.com http://www.myspace.com/bexleyyounglabour http://skuds.co.uk/ http://www.libsoc.blogspot.com/ http://www.pootergeek.com/ http://themisanthrope.typepad.com/ http://www.blog.social-europe.eu/ http://www.furberworld.co.uk/ http://www.labourleftforum.blogspot.com/ http://www.leightonandrews.com http://www.andyhowell.info/Political-Futures/ http://conorfryan.blogspot.com/ http://www.septicisle.info/ http://blacktriangle.org/blog/ http://5cc.blogspot.com/ http://bagrec.livejournal.com/ http://politicalforce.blogspot.com http://www.stroppyblog.blogspot.com/ http://www.stuartbruce.biz/ http://cloud-in-trousers.blogspot.com/ http://gordonsgofer.blogspot.com/ http://www.randompottins.blogspot.com/ http://wongablog.co.uk/ http://yorkshire-ranter.blogspot.com/ http://rhetoricallyspeaking.blogspot.com/ http://citizenandreas.blogspot.com/ http://labourandcapital.blogspot.com/ http://www.michaelmeacher.info/weblog/ http://complexsystemofpipes.wordpress.com/ http://bsscworld.blogspot.com/ http://oxyacetylene.blogspot.com/ http://potlatch.typepad.com/weblog/ http://unoriginalname38.blogspot.com/ http://peoplescommissarofenlightenment.blogspot.com/ http://rhodonpublicaffairs.blogspot.com/ http://ellissharp.blogspot.com/ http://coedpoeth-ward.blogspot.com/ http://nevertrustahippy.blogspot.com/ http://andrewkbrown.wordpress.com/ http://newgolddream.dyndns.info/blog/ http://darlingtoncouncillor.blogspot.com/


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21

Finally, I want to highlight a few newish left of centre blogs which have the potential to make next year’s Top Ten. Byrne Baby Byrne, written by former Kinnock adviser Colin Byrne, Hak Mao and Jon Worth’s Euroblog are all blogs I regularly read for an insight into what’s going on on the left. Former Labour candidate Rupa Huq has also emerged as someone who is much read on the left. Indeed, Rupa is the left of centre blog I tip to make the big time. Let’s see if she lives up to the billing!

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The top 100 LibDem blogs This year’s Top 100 Liberal Democrat blogs has been chosen by a panel of LibDem bloggers. This means that comparisons to last year’s chart are difficult to draw as that was chosen by a panel of one – me. However, there are some interesting pointers, nonetheless. The number one LibDem blogger this year is Jonathan Calder’s Liberal England blog. Jonathan writes the Lord Bonkers column in Liberal Democrat News, but he is anything but bonkers himself! His blog carries a mixture of LibDem commentary, general political comment and a few personal observations thrown in for good measure. He deserves his pole position. Stephen Tall has emerged in the last twelve months as a key player in the Liberal Democrat blogosphere. His own A Liberal Goes a Long Way blog won last year’s Liberal Democrat blog of the year, awarded by the Libdems at their party conference, and he has become a familiar face as the LibDem blogger who most appears on the media. Recently he has taken over as commissioning editor of LibDem Voice, which, it is to be hoped, does not see a decline in his own blog. Stephen is not one to write short snappy posts. He has an erudite, if sometimes academic, style, which means that his posts have a clear beginning, middle and end. He’s a blogger who makes the reader think about their own position on an issue, and you can hardly pay a higher compliment than that. The highest new entry is Nich Starling’s Norfolk Blogger blog. Bearing in mind that in the Top 500 chart this is the top ranked LibDem blog, it’s somewhat surprising to see him languishing in twelfth place in this chart. Obviously fellow LibDems don’t think as highly of his blog as his political opponents. Indeed, many of his votes in the Top 500 came from Conservatives. Nich has stated that he has


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THE TOP 100 LIB DEM BLOGS

24

RANK

2006

BLOG

DOMAIN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

4 17 15 1 5 26 77 19 24 8 7 NEW 12 30 74 2 10 38 8 27 51 NEW 49 37 6 NEW 60 NEW 3 91 62 NEW NEW NEW 40 86 44 NEW 54 NEW NEW NEW 42 NEW 21 36 NEW NEW

Liberal England A Liberal Goes A Long Way Quaequam LibDem Voice Peter Black Liberal Burblings Millennium Dome Elephant Cicero's Songs Andy Mayer Love & Liberty Lynne Featherstone Norfolk Blogger No Geek Is An Island Liberal Bureaucracy Hug a Hoodie Niles's Blog A Posh Sounding Northumbrian Hot, Ginger & Dynamite Jock Coats What You Can Get Away With Jonathan Wallace Liberal Mafia Liberal Alone Whiskey Priest LibDem Blogs Adrian Sanders MP Sandals are Off Steve Webb MP Liberal Review On Liberty Online Mary Reid Ed Maxfield Wouldn't it be Scarier… Diary of Chris K Pink Dog Republic of Hyde Park Richard Allan Duncan Borrowman Colin Ross Clowns to the Left of Me David Nikel Jonathan Fryer Moonlight over Essex Mike Barker Anders Hanson Eaten by Missionaries Jeremy Hargreaves Matt Davies

http://liberalengland.blogspot.com/ http://oxfordliberal.blogspot.com/ http://www.theliberati.net/quaequamblog/ http://www.liddemvoice.org http://peterblack.blogspot.com/ http://paulwalter.blogspot.com/ http://millenniumelephant.blogspot.com/ http://cicerossongs.blogspot.com/ http://andymayer.blogspot.com/ http://loveandliberty.blogspot.com/ http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/blog.htm http://norfolkblogger.blogspot.com/ http://www.willhowells.org.uk/blog// http://liberalbureaucracy.blogspot.com/ http://hugahoodie.blogspot.com/ http://www.alexfoster.me.uk/ http://www.northumbrian.org.uk/ http://gingeranddynamite.blogspot.com/ http://www.jockcoats.org.uk/ http://www.nickbarlow.com/blog/ http://jonathanwallace.blogspot.com/ http://liberalimafia.blogspot.com http://www.eridu.org.uk/blog/ http://oberon2001.blogspot.com/ http://www.libdemblogs.co.uk/ http://blog.myspace.com/adriansandersmp http://www.sguy.net/ http://webbsteve.blogspot.com/ http://www.liberalreview.com/ http://onlibertyonline.blogspot.com/ http://www.maryreid.org.uk/ http://owersby.wordpress.com http://mindrobber.blogspot.com/ http://clickeral.blogspot.com/ http://pinkdogster.blogspot.com/ http://republicofhydepark.blogspot.com/ http://www.richardallan.org.uk/ http://duncanborrowman.blogspot.com/ http://www.colin-ross.org.uk/ http://www.cttlom.blogspot.com/ http://davidnikel.wordpress.com/ http://jonathanfryer.wordpress.com/ http://essexmoonlight.blogspot.com/ http://www.cllrmikebarker.blogspot.com/ http://andershanson.wordpress.com/ http://eatenbymissionaries.blogspot.com/ www.jeremyhargreaves.org/blog http://mattdaviesharingey.blogspot.com/

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49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

18 20 NEW 58 NEW NEW 43 61 NEW 16 34 25 NEW NEW NEW 28 NEW 59 NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW 50 32 23 NEW 48 52 NEW 35 NEW NEW 73 NEW NEW NEW 14 79 NEW NEW 29 69 NEW 75 NEW 92 89 NEW 98 100

John Hemming MP http://johnhemming.blogspot.com/ Ballots, Balls & Bikes http://ballotsballsandbikes.blogspot.com/ Greengauge http://stevengauge.wordpress.com/ Rick's St Mary's Diary http://richardbaum.blogspot.com/ Home Office Watch http://www.homeofficewatch.com/ Lindyloo's Muze http://lindyloosmuze.blogspot.com/ Arwen Folkes http://arwenfolkes.blogspot.com/ Liberal Legend http://www.liberallegend2.blogspot.com/ Process Guy http://processguy.blogspot.com/ Suz Blog http://susannelamido.blogspot.com/ Bernard Woolley http://www.cttlom.blogspot.com/ Sajjad Karim MEP http://sajjadkarimmep.blogspot.com/ Charles Anglin http://bullseye-liberaldissenter.blogspot.com/ Barcharters Anonymous http://barcharter.blogspot.com/ Liberal Leslie http://www.liberalleslie.blog.co.uk/ Hooting Yard http://www.hootingyard.org/ Progressive Politics http://leftleaningpolitics.blogspot.com/ Disgruntled Radical http://disgruntledradical.blogspot.com/ Simon Jeram http://blog.biscit.me.uk/ Joe's Extra Bold Blog http://joeotten.blogspot.com/ Mark Young http://markjohnyoung.spaces.live.com/ Belsize Libdems http://www.belsizelibdems.org.uk/ Hunting for Witches http://huntingforwitches.blogspot.com/ All Along the Watchtower http://strmrgn.livejournal.com/ Ryan Cullen http://blog.artesea.co.uk/ Agent Mancuso http://agentmancuso.blogspot.com/ Liberal Action http://liberalaction.typepad.com/liberal_action/ The 3 P's http://radders73.blogspot.com/ Chris & Glynis Abbott http://www.chrisandglynisabbott.blogspot.com/ Paula Keaveney http://www.paulakeaveney.blogspot.com/ Ann Garner http://anngarner.blogspot.com/ And Then He Said http://random-incident.journalspace.com/ A Radical Writes http://aradicalwrites.blogspot.com/ JohnBM:Liberal http://www.johnbm.com/ Neil Woolcott http://www.neilwoollcott.blogspot.com/ Liberal Polemic http://liberalpolemic.blogspot.com Freethink http://www.freethink.org/ Voice of Young Liberal Democrats http://youngbritishandliberal.wordpress.com/ Eric Avebury http://ericavebury.blogspot.com/ Oliver's Battery & Badger Farm http://obbfcouncillor.blogspot.com/ Long Despairing Young Something http://auberius.blogspot.com/ Anything Caron Can Do http://anything-caron-can-do.blogspot.com/ Forceful & Moderate http://forcefulandmoderate.blogspot.com/ Fraser MacPherson http://frasermacpherson.blogspot.com/ Ian Eiloart http://www.eiloart.com/blog/ Stodge http://blog.stodge.org/ 5tracks http://www.5tracks.eu/ David Walker http://cllrdavidwalker.org/wordp/ Flock Together http://www.flocktogether.org.uk/blog/ de moribus liberalibus http://liberalibus.blogspot.com/ MKNE Political Information http://politsmk.blogspot.com/ Ming Campbell http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/


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modelled his blog on my own. I leave it to others to judge a) whether that was a good idea and b) whether it has worked. He’s certainly prolific, but I wonder whether than sometimes detracts from some of his better posts. He’s far too ready to go on the attack sometimes, but hey, why not? James Graham’s Quaquem blog is consistently good. He’s another blogger who can’t see an opponent without hitting below the belt, but his writing style and general background knowledge of constitutional reform issues make him an increasing must-read for people across the political spectrum. One of the sadder developments in the LibDem blogosphere this year has been the decline of LibDem Voice. At one stage it looked as if it might disappear altogether when its creator, Rob Fenwick, decided he had had enough. In the end a collective of LibDem bloggers including Mark Pack, Stephen Tall and Ryan Cullen came to the rescue. It does seem, however, to have become a party mouthpiece with Mark Pack, a senior LibDem employee writing the majority of the posts. It’s lost that certain ‘spark’ which Rob Fenwick gave it, and it doesn’t question LibDem officialdom in the way that ConservativeHome does. If I were to pick out one LibDem blogger who had the potential to make the bigtime it’s James Oates from Cicero’s Songs. He’s a consistently brilliant writer, who provides insight with every blogpost. If he posted more often and updated his blog design he would be in the top three next year. As a Conservative I probably read more LibDem blogs than most others. I find them consistently more entertaining than Labour blogs, as their authors tend to inject their own personalities into their blogs in a way that Labour bloggers tend not to. It’s clear that LibDem have harnessed the blogosphere well, and their influence is likely to grow over the next twelve months. I’m not sure what it says about their leader that his blog is rated 100 out of 100 by LibDem bloggers, but they say that the exception proves the rule. The LibDem blogosphere is undoubtedly in rude health.

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The top 100 non-aligned blogs It is hard to define what constitutes a ‘non-aligned blog’ and inevitably it is subjective. For example, most people would consider Pickled Politics to be on the left, politically. However, I think it deserves its non-aligned status as it tries to avoid being party political. The Campaign for an English Parliament blog may be considered to be on the right, but it also goes out of its way to praise left of centre politicians who agree with its aims. Political Betting has a very loyal and growing readership. It is one of the few blogs to maintain a civilised standard of debate at all times. It’s a bit like the House of Lords. If someone transgresses its rules they are quickly dealt with by the regulars. In July 2007 it achieved a record 750,000 page downloads. It probably has many fewer unique visitors than more conventional blogs but some of them stay on the site for much of the day and may press reload more than one hundred times. Political Betting is one of the few blogs read by most of the political lobby and by many MPs of all parties. It deserves its pole position. Many of the blogs in this list are specialist. Two of the pre-eminent ones are Slugger O’Toole whose coverage of Irish politics is beyond comparison, and the NHS Blog Doctor whose experiences as a GP in the NHS are often truly horrifying. Rachel from North London has made her name for her superb writings in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombs. She was in one of the trains which were blown up. The UK Polling Report’s influence is likely to grow as an election draws nearer and the Revolts blog, run by Nottingham academic Philip Cowley is attracting a growing readership. It analyses parliamentary rebellions. Philip Cowley, truly is the political equiva-


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THE TOP 100 NON-ALIGNED BLOGS

28

RANK

BLOG

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

Political Betting http://www.politicalbetting.com NHS Blog Doctor http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/ Slugger O'Toole http://www.sluggerotoole.com/ Pickled Politics http://www.pickledpolitics.com/ Craig Murray http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/ Rachel From North London http://rachelnorthlondon.blogspot.com/ Our Kingdom http://ourkingdom.opendemocracy.net/ Spyblog http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/ As a Dodo http://www.asadodo.com/ Westminster Wisdom http://gracchii.blogspot.com/ Blair Watch http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/ Little Man in a Toque http://www.toque.co.uk/blog/ Policeman's Blog http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/ Rolled Up Trousers http://www.osamasaeed.org/ Bishop Hill http://bishophill.squarespace.com/ Campaign for an English Par . . . http://thecep.org.uk/news/ UK Polling Report http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/index.php The Green Ribbon http://tomgriffin.typepad.com/the_green_ribbon/ Chase me Ladies http://chasemeladies.blogspot.com/ The Sharpener http://www.thesharpener.net/ Barry Beelzebub http://barrybeelzebub.blogspot.com/ Pub Philosopher http://pubphilosopher.blogs.com/ Not Saussure http://notsaussure.wordpress.com/ England Project http://www.theenglandproject.net/wordpress/ Nosemonkey Europhobia http://www.jcm.org.uk/blog/ Miserable Old Fart http://miserableoldfart.blogspot.com/ Dr Rant http://www.drrant.net/ Waking Hereward http://wakinghereward.blogspot.com/ S J Howard http://sjhoward.co.uk/ Open Europe http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.com/ Wonko's World http://www.wonkosworld.co.uk/wordpress/ Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness http://threethousandversts.blogspot.com/ Civitas http://www.civitas.org.uk/blog/ J Arthur Macnumpty http://macnumpty.blogspot.com/ Greenwich Watch http://greenwichwatch.blogspot.com/ Downing Street Says http://www.downingstreetsays.com/ Jeffrey Archer http://jeffreyarchers.blogspot.com James O'Malley: Living Legend http://jamesomalley.co.uk/blog/ Fibdems http://fibdems.blogspot.com/ Random Acts of Reality http://randomreality.blogware.com/ Let's be Sensible http://letsbesensible.blogspot.com/ Luke Akehurst Parody Blog http://lukeakehurstsblog.blogspot.com/ Nether-World http://nether-world.blogspot.com/ Revolts http://www.revolts.co.uk Postman Patel http://postmanpatel.blogspot.com/ Inspector Gadget http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/ Valleys Mam http://merchmerthyr.blogspot.com/ Muslim Matters http://muslimmatters.org/

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DOMAIN


49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

Britology Watch Cross of St George Educational Conscription Indigo Public Affairs Prison Law Inside Out Make My Vote Count Tommy English L'Ombre de mon Ombre Dhimmi Watch To Miss With Love Magistrate's Blog Rights of Man Paul Leake Henry North London All About Nothing Kick Aas Yellow Swordfish Mediocracy Small Nation Mr Chalk Disillusioned Kid Free Born John Edinburgh Sucks Poliblogs View from the Glen Matt Buck Anyone But Ken Wales World Nation Mens Sana Picking Losers Big Ulsterman Wife in the North Shaphan An Insomniac Kate's Home Blog Chosen Man Free Jersey Blogzilla Glamorganshire BBC Eye Belle de Jure Ennui Seneddwr SGS Politics Blog Cally's Kitchen Tony's Blog Darren Lilleker Unlock Democracy Blog Power Polly Toynbee Fact Checker Chris Doidge Assembly Notes

http://britologywatch.wordpress.com/ http://crossofstgeorge.net/news/blog.php http://appallingstupidity.blogspot.com/ http://indigopublicaffairs.wordpress.com/ http://prisonersvoice.blogspot.com http://www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/blog/ http://in-ger-land.blogspot.com/ http://lombredemonombre.blogspot.com/ http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/ http://tomisswithlove.blogspot.com/ http://thelawwestofealingbroadway.blogspot.com/ http://www.therightsofman.typepad.co.uk/ http://paulleake.org.uk/ http://henrynorthlondon.blogspot.com/ http://leongreen.wordpress.com/ http://kickaas.typepad.com/ http://www.yellowswordfish.com/ http://inversions-and-deceptions.blogspot.com/ http://smallnation.org/drupal/ http://frankchalk.blogspot.com/ http://disillusionedkid.blogspot.com/ http://freebornjohn.blogspot.com/ http://www.edinburghsucks.com/ http://thepoliblogs.blogspot.com/ http://cwmview.blogspot.com/ http://www-hack.blogspot.com/ http://anyonebutken.blogspot.com/ http://walesworldnation.welshblogs.co.uk/ http://menssana.wordpress.com/ http://www.pickinglosers.co.uk/ http://bigulsterman.blogspot.com/ http://www.wifeinthenorth.com/ http://shaphan.typepad.com/blog/ http://www.aninsomniac.co.uk/ http://kateshomeblog.blogspot.com/ http://the-chosen-man.blogspot.com/ http://www.freejersey.org/ http://dooooooom.blogspot.com/ http://glamorganshire.blogspot.com/ http://bbceye.blogspot.com/ http://belle-de-jure.blogspot.com/ http://lessofthemoviestuff.blogspot.com/ http://www.seneddwr.com/ http://sgspolitics.blogspot.com http://callyskitchen.blogspot.com/ http://blog.pint.org.uk/ http://www.darrenlilleker.blogspot.com/ http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/ http://defendingtheblog.blogspot.com/ http://factcheckingpollyanna.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/cdoidge http://assemblynotes.blogspot.com/


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lent of Statto. It’s interesting to note the lack of political academic with blogs. Darren Lilleker is the only other one in this list, while Bill Jones runs a Labour supporting blog. Do academics consider blogs beneath them? I’d have thought they were an ideal platform for them.

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The top 30 MP blogs Fewer than five per cent of MPs blog. Proportionately, more LibDem MPs blog than the other parties, but even for them only nine per cent of their 63 MPs feel it’s worth their while. The fact is that most MPs believe that other MPs who blog are clinically insane. They live in total fear of their recorded comments coming back to haunt them. The derision suffered by Conservative MP THE TOP 30 MP BLOGS RANK

BLOG

DOMAIN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

John Redwood MP Tom Watson MP Nadine Dorries MP Paul Flynn MP Lynne Featherstone MP Harriet Harman MP John McDonnell MP Adam Price MP Richard Spring MP David Jones MP Sadiq Khan MP Austin Mitchell MP John Hemming MP Michael Meacher MP Ed Vaizey MP Steve Webb MP Andy Love MP Derek Wyatt MP Adrian Sanders MP Julie Morgan MP Kerry McCarthy MP Boris Johnson MP David Davies MP James Duddridge MP Theresa May MP Mark Lazaorowicz David Kidney MP Ian Cawsey MP Ming Campbell Pat McFadden MP

http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/ http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/ http://www.dorries.org.uk/Blog.aspx http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/ http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/blog.htm http://blog.harrietharman.org/ http://www.johnmcdonnell.org.uk/index.html http://www.adampriceblog.org.uk/ http://richardspring.mpblogs.com/ http://davidjonesclwydwest.blogspot.com/ http://www.sadiqkhan.org.uk/blog/sadiqblog.htm http://www.austinmitchell.org/ http://johnhemming.blogspot.com/ http://www.michaelmeacher.info/weblog/ http://www.edvaizey.mpblogs.com http://webbsteve.blogspot.com/ http://andylovemp.blogspot.com/ http://www.derekwyatt.co.uk/ http://blog.myspace.com/adriansandersmp http://juliemorgan.typepad.com/ http://www.kerrymccarthymp.org/blog/ http://www.boris-johnson.com/ http://daviddaviesam.blogspot.com/ http://www.jamesduddridge.com/jamesBlogs.asp?start=1 http://www.tmay.co.uk/blog/ http://www.edinburghnorthandleith.org.uk/blog/ http://www.davidkidney.com/index.php?p-Blog http://www.myspace.com/iancawseymp http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/ http://www.patmcfadden.com/cgi-bin/cm.cgi?cmrid=2&cmpid=33


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Nadine Dorries about some of the more personal things she writes on her blog has to be heard to be believed. But she has stuck to her guns and her blog has given her a profile she would never have had without it. Of the thirty MPs with blogs, nearly half (14) sit on the Labour benches. Tom Watson was the first MP to blog. When he became a Minister he more or less gave it up and posted only sporadically. When he resigned, his blog gave him a release valve, not available to many. Since being reappointed to the whips office he has taken on the mantle from Fraser Kemp as the party’s licensed attack dog. At time he really ought to be muzzled. John Redwood is a relative newcomer to the world of blogging but he has quickly established himself as a must read not just for right wingers, but for the Westminster lobby. It’s not a ‘flashy’ blog. It does what it says on the tin and there’s no better place for intelligent commentary on some of the great issues of the day. And the great thing is that he interacts with his growing number of commenters – something many bloggers could do more of. It is good to see Harriet Harman continuing to blog. She was the only one of the Labour Deputy Leadership candidates to “get” blogging, and as expected all the others have let their blogs fall by the wayside. Lynne Featherstone is the highest ranking LibDem blog. When she started blogging she concentrated on stories relating to her role as a constituency MP but gradually she has broadened out into discussing national stories too. She was very open about her dilemmas during the LibDem leadership contest. I predict that by the time the next blogging directory is published the number of MPs blogging will have doubled. Blogging doesn’t have to be dangerous and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Those that have taken it up recently, like Richard Spring,

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find it a tremendous way of getting their views “out there” without the filter of the media. It’s a spin-free medium, and more and more politicians are waking up to it. Note: A few other MPs have blogs, but they haven’t been updated for months. For this reason, Stephen Pound, Stephen Crabb and Emily Thornberry, among others, have not been included.


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The top 60 media blogs If you are a journalist with a ready outlet for your work, why on earth would you want to write a blog? The answer can be found in the top three blogs in this list. Nick Robinson, Ben Brogan, Matthew D’Ancona and Fraser Nelson all have one thing in common. They use their respective blogs to provide information and insight which they would never be able to broadcast or get into their publications. Ben Brogan in particular has a well defined art of providing all sorts of titbits for his readers which he would never be able to get in the Daily Mail, where he is political editors. Nick Robinson is the same. He writes on his blog about things he would never be able to put into a two minute report in a BBC news bulletin. The best new media blog is undoubtedly the Spectator Coffee House blog, which takes contributions from seven or eight people who regularly write for the magazine. James Forsyth, Fraser Nelson and Matthew D’Ancona are the most frequent contributors. It has become a must-read blog for anyone on the right. At first I thought it wouldn’t work. Group blogs often find it difficult to get a ‘personality’, but the Spectator Coffee House has succeeded where many others have failed. THE TOP 60 MEDIA BLOGS

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RANK

BLOG

DOMAIN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Nick Robinson Spectator Coffee House Benedict Brogan Paul Linford Times Comment Central Biased BBC Melanie Phillips 18 Doughty Street

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/ http://broganblog.dailymail.co.uk/ http://paullinford.blogspot.com/ http://www.timesonline.typepad.com/comment/ http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/ http://www.melaniephillips.com/ http://www.18doughtystreet.com/blog

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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Mark Mardell Oliver Kamm Little & Large Stephen Pollard Evanomics Toby Harnden Adam Boulton PM Bryan Appleyard Peter Hitchens Open Secrets Betsan Powys Blether with Brian Clive Davis Media Lens Vaughan Roderick BBC Editors' Blog New Culture Forum David Cornock Dad Blog Playing Against the Spin Tiger Tales Steyn Online Charlie Beckett Ruth Gledhill Matt Withers Tribune Cartoons Gavin Yates Nick Cohen Ciara Leeming Newsnight Blog Martin Bright Graham Dines Roy Greenslade David Smith's Economics UK Brendan O'Neill Adrian Monck Dave Hill David Aaronovitch Kevin Maguire Michael Crick Sacred Facts Simon Dickson Spin & Spinners 0725 to Paddington Adam Macqueen Rob McGibbon Party Animal The Answer Experts Edward Lucas Devenport Diaries Ben Davies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/ http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/littleandlarge http://www.spectator.co.uk/stephenpollard/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/foreign/tobyharnden/ http://adamboulton.typepad.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/ http://www.bryanappleyard.com/blog/ http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/betsanpowys/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/briantaylor/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/clivedavis/ http://www.medialens.org/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/vaughanroderick/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/ http://newcultureforum.blogspot.com/ http://davidcornock.blogspot.com/ http://www.dadblog.co.uk/ http://playingagainstthespin.wordpress.com/ http://assemblytigertales.blogspot.com/ http://www.steynonline.com/ http://www.charliebeckett.org/ http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/ http://mattwithers.welshblogs.co.uk/ http://tribunecartoons.blogspot.com/ http://gymedia.wordpress.com/ http://www.nickcohen.net/ http://ciaraleeming.blogspot.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/brights-blog http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/blogs/dines_days.aspx http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade/ http://www.economicsuk.com/blog/ http://www.brendanoneill.net/ http://adrianmonck.blogspot.com/ http://davehill.typepad.com/temperama/ http://timesonline.typepad.com/david_aaronovitch/ http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/uk/kevinmaguire/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/politics_corner/ http://sambrook.typepad.com/sacredfacts/ http://simondickson.wordpress.com http://chrisames.blogspot.com/ http://0725topaddington.blogspot.com/ http://adammacqueen.blogspot.com/ http://robmcgibbon.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/politics/ http://theanswerexperts.wordpress.com/ http://edwardlucas.blogspot.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/bens-blog


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Most newspapers are now encouraging their journalists to blog, but are still meeting a fair amount of resistance. However, those that stick at it seem to enjoy it. The Telegraph’s US Correspondent Toby Harnden is a good case in point. Regional journalists are also taking to blogging with relish. Graham Dines from the East Anglian Daily Times, Matt Withers from Wales on Sunday and David Ottewell from the Manchester Evening News are three good examples. This is the only category where it is difficult to determine traffic figures for the respective blogs. I doubt whether any of them are getting more than a couple of thousand readers a day, but in many ways that’s not the point. The point is that they are delivering a service to their readers which they couldn’t do through their normal outlets. In some ways the blogs of commentators are a disappointment. Melanie Philips, Oliver Kamm and Peter Hitchens feature in the top twenty, yet Philips and Kamm don’t even offer a comment facility. The ones to watch over the next twelve months include PM, Evanomics and Charlie Beckett from the LSE. I also expect Martin Bright to develop his blog into a ‘must read’, as a left of centre equivalent to Ben Brogan.

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The top 30 councillor blogs It's source of constant amazement to me that so few councillors have blogs. What better way to communicate with your electorate? The councillor blogs listed here all do a fantastic job at keeping their patch informed about what they are doing and what the local issues are. You'll find some well known blogs (like Kerron Cross and Bob Piper) listed lower than you might expect because they don't just talk about local subjects. Most of the others are exclusively related to their council business. There are more than 20,000 councillors in Britain today. Only a couple of hundred of them have blogs. It's up to them to spread the word among their more luddite colleagues. Next year, this category should have a Top 100, not a Top 30. THE TOP 30 COUNCILLOR BLOGS RANK

BLOG

DOMAIN

1

Stephen Tall

http://www.stephentall.org.uk

2

Matt Davies

http://mattdaviesharingey.blogspot.com

3

Fair Deal Phil

http://fairdealphil.blogspot.com

4

Iain Lindley

http://blog.iainlindley.com

5

Maida Vale Conservatives

http://www.maidavaleconservatives.blogspot.com

6

The Bristow Blog

http://thebristowblog.typepad.com

7

Richard Booth (Con, Wimborne)

http://richard4wimborne.blogspot.com

8

Nigel Fletcher (Con, Greenwich)

http://www.nigelfletcher.blogspot.com

9

Waendel Journal (Con, Wellingborough)

http://www.tonysharp.blogspot.com

10

Antonia Bance (Lab, Oxford)

http://www.antoniabance.org.uk

11

Vicky Ford (Con, South Cambridgeshire)

http://vickyford.blogspot.com

12

Mike & Gill Cartwright (Con, Darlington)

http://harrowgatehillfuture.co.uk

13

Ben Sherreard (Con, Maidstone)

http://www.bensherreard.blogspot.com

14

Niles's Blog (Lib, Nottingham)

http://www.alexfoster.me.uk

15

Nick King (Con, Bournemouth)

http://nick4littledown.blogspot.com

16

Tim Dodds (Con, Surrey Heath)

http://lightwater.wordpress.com

17

Antony Little (Con, Norwich)

http://antonylittle.blogspot.com


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18

Bob Piper (Lab, Sandwell)

http://www.bobpiper.co.uk

19

Bailey Blog (Con, Huntingdonshire)

http://baileyblogspot.blogspot.com

20

Chris Whiteside (Con, Copeland)

http://chris4copeland.blogspot.com

21

Callum's Parish Blog (Lib, Bodham P C)

http://callumringer.blogspot.com

22

Gavin Ayling (Con, Adur)

http://www.gavweb.net/blog

23

Councillor Terry Kelly (Lab, Renfrewshire)

http://councillorterrykelly.blogspot.com

24

Nick Wallis (Lab, Darlington)

http://darlingtoncouncillor.blogspot.com

25

Luke Akehurst (Lab, Hackney)

http://www.lukeakehurst.blogspot.com

26

Kerron Cross (Lab, Three Rivers)

http://kerroncross.blogspot.com

27

Moonlight over Essex (Lib, Rochford)

http://essexmoonlight.blogspot.com

28

Republic of Hyde Park (Lib, Leeds)

http://republicofhydepark.blogspot.com

29

Matt Dean Southampton (Con, Southampton) http://mattdeansoton.blogspot.com

30

Ann's Sedgley Blog (Lib, Manchester)

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http://anngarner.blogspot.com


How the bloggers are making politics more challenging Steve Richards Chief Political Commentator, The Independent

I have a confession to make about a relatively new habit. I do it at least three times a day. Such is the relentless pull that I shall be indulging at least once as I write this column. For the moment the addiction is not especially harmful to me, but might be to others, especially leaders seeking to get a grip on their parties. I have become hooked on a small number of political blogs. Each morning, then again before lunch and once more in the evening, I log on to blogs that take the form of rolling political comment, analysing the news rather than reporting it. Too much is made these days of the impact on politics of the 24-hour rolling news channels. The channels have the capacity to make fleeting political twists seem more dramatic than they really are, with their headlines every 15 minutes and their "Breaking News" banners that greet every minor development. But in the end the stations do not change the course of events. If the sense of political drama is exaggerated, reality intervenes sooner or later and the channels move on. The blogs are different. They can have an influence on events. Let me come clean and give a full explanation of my addiction. For a long time I kept clear of political blogs, assuming that they were as irrelevant as vox pops or the emails read out by presenters on political programmes. Emails and vox pops are meaningless and should be banned by broadcasters. At the end of Prime


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Minister's Questions, for example, Andrew Neil reads a series of emails from viewers giving their immediate reactions: "Burt Thung writes that Gordon Brown was hopeless, but Joan Thing has emailed saying she thought Brown was much better than David Cameron." Who are Burt Thung and Joan Thing? Is Burt an ardent Tory and is Joan a passionate Labour supporter? We do not know the answers. People's views are only illuminating when they come with a background. Instead Burt and Joan are shapeless, without a past or even a present. They might be fascinating individuals, striking barometers of the political mood, but we will never know enough about them to find out. The bloggers are different. We know a lot about them - too much, perhaps, if you are an addict. My favourites are Iain Dale, a former Tory candidate and publisher; Ben Brogan, the political editor of the Daily Mail, ConservativeHome, started up by Tim Montgomerie, who worked previously at the party's HQ; and The Spectator Coffee House,, a blog from those who write for the weekly magazine. All are updated regularly. Dale sometimes manages to break stories, such as the appointment of Andy Coulson as David Cameron's press secretary. Brogan offers elegantly insightful instant assessments, and is as fair to Gordon Brown as he is to Cameron. ConservativeHome is a site of feverish energy with contributors ranging from Shadow Cabinet members to local activists. The Spectator site is the equivalent of meeting a friend for coffee and talking politics, though sometimes it veers into other areas - such as the latest Barbra Streisand concert. Obviously I am aware of the common connection and slightly alarmed by it. The blogs to which I am hooked are all associated with the right. Why is this? I spend a lot of time, probably too

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much, reflecting on the oscillating fortunes of the Labour government. And yet when the craving gets too much I head off to the sites listed above. Probably part of the reason for the blogging hyperactivity on the right is the current turmoil in the Conservative Party. When a party seeks a new sense of direction after three election defeats there is scope for endless debate, heightened by fleeting moments of fuming anger and joyful euphoria. Presumably in the late Seventies and and early Eighties, there would have been addictive blogs putting the case for Tony Benn. They would have been countered perhaps by must-read sites from those heading for the SDP. I guess left-of-centre bloggers would have flourished when Labour was overwhelmed by civil war. Now Labour is more settled and will be thrown into blog paradise/crisis only if it loses the next election. Yet this cannot be the full answer. Republican blogs in the US thrived even when their presidential candidate won the last two elections. In the US too, it is the right-wing phone-in hosts who make waves whatever the wider political context. To be honest I do not know the full reason for the blogging preeminence on the right. What I do know for sure is that the blogs are making politics more febrile. I am not alone in reading them. Politicians do so all the time and so do editors of television programmes. Dale has become a regular pundit, appearing on television much more than if he had won a seat at the last election and become a mere elected MP. When Cameron makes an announcement or gives an interview, he gets an almost immediate response from activists on the ConservativeHome website. Sometimes the verdicts are far from flattering. Their influence can be measured by current attempts to counter dissent by setting up a new site for Cameroonian loyalists.


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Overall, Conservatives voices are heard like never before. Not so long ago this was a party that had an annual conference, which was little more than a week of loyalist flag-waving. There were no formal outlets for activists to register their views. Now they do so every few hours. Such frequent engagement makes it harder for leaders to reform or manage their parties. They have less space to move without noisy dissent surfacing. I wonder how long Labour's leaders in the 1970s and 1980s would have coped in the internet age. Their annual conferences were partly week-long displays of dissent. If there had been a LabourHome site then, activists would no doubt have exploded with rage at the leadership most minutes of the day. It would have been required reading. We, or rather I, should not get carried away. Newspapers continue to matter much more than blogs. The judgements the newspapers make in the coming months will have more impact on the outcome of the next election than any blog or television news bulletin. When newspapers give their verdicts on Brown and Cameron they become big news stories. Broadcasters are not allowed to give judgements in the same way. In his early months, Cameron and his entourage failed to recognise this, assuming wrongly that a 30second clip on a television news bulletin was what shaped opinion. Cameron has appeared on a lot of television bulletins recently and look at the opinion polls. The significance of the blogs is that they are an additional influence to newspapers. Their influence will grow, not least on the Tory leadership as it embarks on the final stage of the party's policy review policy review. Time to log on.

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Why blogging matters David King and Evan Kraus APCO Online

A lot has happened in the blogosphere since the first edition of Iain Dale's Guide to Political Blogging was published a year ago. For good or ill, 2007 is the year that blogging came into its own. 'Good' if you are a blogger with something to say and a way of saying it; 'Ill' if you are employed by or emotionally invested in the MSM (mainstream media), or on the receiving end of a particularly tart savaging from Devil's Kitchen or Mr. Eugenides. Blogging's critics lost a little of their sneer in 2007. Yes, bloggers may be talking to each other (if they are talking to anyone at all), but the difference now is a lot of people are paying attention. Blogs matter, and here are some of the reasons why: In the UK, 62 percent of the population is online and 40 percent of those people read a blog in the past week. These are not insignificant numbers. Bloggers are influencing the political debate, and we can already see what this means on distant shores. As the political blogosphere matures in the United States, research there gives us some interesting insights: 70 percent of blog readers contribute to a cause or campaign online, 41 perncent spend $100 or more People who seek out opinions online are seven times more like-


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ly to be influential opinion-leaders than the average Of MySpace.com's 51 million users, over 45 per cent are college graduates, 21 percent contacted an elected official in the last three years and 20 per cent are talk radio listeners And since these blogs and networks serve highly discrete audiences, it is much easier to target, educate and mobilise the right set of influencers and interested parties on almost any issue. Will the blogosphere provide the catalyst for greater political involvement in the politically apathetic UK? We think it already has. The identification of influencers online is indeed different than in other channels. One uses the robust set of tools now available to carefully analyse not only traditional metrics, like audience size, and recognition and reputation of the individual doing the talking, but also how well-connected that voice (and his or her venue) are in the social Web. This second factor - diffusion potential portends how far his or her comments are likely to spread and how enduring they are likely to be. To whom are they linked? Do they spark serious debate and draw consistently high comment numbers? This can be quantified and qualified. With that kind of engaged readership comes another kind of value, and the top political blogs are making significant moves to turn that value into cash flow. Google, AdSense, BlogAds, Pajamas Media (which is based in the US but includes UK and European blogs) and UK-based Message Space, all present opportunities for bloggers to see some small return for their work. Will this develop into mini-media fiefdoms - small, but perfectly formed, media institutions that will allow bloggers to become fully-fledged members of the professional chattering class? The dynamic is in place for bloggers to share in the media wealth, if their growing power can be leveraged. There are a lot of 'ifs’.

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Blogs create value in another way: they challenge institutions; and what better candidate for challenge than the mainstream media. The tension between the MSM and blogosphere is palpable. As media celebrity and journalist Janet Street-Porter says, "Blogs are for anoraks who couldn't get published any other way." Blogger James Lewis retorts, "They [the MSM] are a tiny, unchecked power elite, locked into life-long careers in the remnant of a crumbling monopoly over [the] national conversation. Like other unaccountable elites, they are monumentally fickle, self-indulgent, snobbish, vain, vulgar, entitled, incestuous, arrogant, ignorant, unprincipled, hysterical, and demagogic." And that's on a good day. The "democratisation" of communication means that traditional gatekeepers like reporters, pundits, editors and talking heads are no longer omnipotent in controlling how issues are framed; these sources can be challenged by new critics emerging from online networks. In a year that brought us fabricated and plagiarised stories, phone-in fraud scandals, false and manipulative editing of news and promotion pieces and institutional bias - and that's just from the media institution that we are forced to subscribe to under penalty of imprisonment - blogs provided a level of fact-checking and scrutiny of the MSM that was never before possible. After the


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TOP MEDICAL BLOGS 1

NHS Blog Doctor The pseudonymous Dr John Crippin exposes how the NHS is failing its patients and how the government is to blame

http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com

2

The Psychiatrist Blog Dr Michelle Tempest, a Tory activist, talks about the politics of medicine

http://drmichelletempest.blogspot.com

3

Dr Grumble

http://drgrumble.blogspot.com

4

A Fortunate Man

http://afortunateman.blogspot.com

5

Hospital Phoenix Was very good at giving an anonymous but personal account during the MMC disaster

http://mmcmtas.blogspot.com/index.html

6

Dr Rant This is written by a team of people is not for the faint hearted and can contain strong language.

http://www.drrant.net/index.htm

7

Fat Doctor An American blogging physician

http://fatdoctor.org

8

The Ferret Fancier Done some really good undercover reporting

http://ferretfancier.blogspot.com

9

The Junior Doctor Gives a personal account of life as a junior doctor

http://thejuniordoctor.blogspot.com

10

Of Short White Coats and Stethoscopes Gives a personal account of life as a medical student.

http://shortwhitecoats.blogspot.com

COMPILED BY MICHELLE TEMPEST

recent revelation that the BBC was possibly involved in more than 7,000 edits on the Wikipedia site - some of which were to remove statements critical of the BBC - the BBC linked to the coverage

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coming from a critical blog, Biased BBC. You can find regular ripostes there from BBC employees in the comments section. There is no question that the government takes the blogosphere seriously. In the past year we saw the government forced into a climb down from its policy on the recruitment of junior doctors when the formidable power of Britain's medical bloggers (led by the estimable Dr. Crippen) exposed critical security flaws in the system and then went on to mobilise doctors to take to the streets to protest the perceived unfairness of the new system. The Central Office of Intelligence announced plans to begin monitoring blogs as it would any other medium. Would anyone have predicted a year ago that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would post an official response in the comments section of the EU Referendum blog after (yet another) trenchant challenge to MoD equipment and procurement policy by the blog's authors? Lord Drayson, Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, did exactly that in July, posting a 600-word response there and on the official MoD Web site. If the effect of the blogging phenomenon is nothing more than to bring mainstream media back to some semblance of respectability, and adding a few more talented and original authors and pundits to the mix, it will serve a truly valuable function. But something says there is much more to come and much farther to go as blogging becomes a functioning, democratic counterbalance to the entrenched bureaucracy of today's political and media institutions. Blog on.


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Starting a political blog: things to think about Matt Wardman THE WARDMAN WIRE: http://www.mattwardman.com/blog

Politica l Blogging is like Politica l Ca mpa igning We have all done it – slogging round a no hope street in a no hope constituency in the rain in November on a Saturday or Sunday morning, when we should be at home in bed with our breakfast. Then, at the last house in the last street, our finger is bitten without warning by a small, homicidal, dog that can just reach the letterbox when it stands on its hind legs. Fortunately, we may have seen the good side as well: winning when we do not expect to do so. Writing a blog contains many of these experiences – both the enjoyable and the frustrating. In this article I have focussed on the early days of writing a blog, and on the things you need to know at that stage - through the lens of political campaigning. The lessons apply to both blogs aimed at a national audience, and also to those focussed on a particular area.

The Basics Blogs vs Lea flets: The ba ck room no longer exists A blog is a communication tool – just like the leaflet or the brochure that you distribute to your target audience. However, now the previously separate processes of publication,

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distribution and follow-up conversation are all rolled together, and there is less cost involved. Further, all these processes are now done in public, and leave an audit trail that can be read by anyone who takes an interest. The latter group will – inevitably – include your opponents at the next election.

Li sten Fir st Spend some time reading a number of blogs – several months is not too long. Engage in the conversation. Find some friends and allies in similar situations or with similar ideas, who can show you the ropes. And find your opponents, and learn when to argue with them and when to work with them. In other words - it is just like politics. Defi ne your objectives Ask the same questions that you do when you start an election campaign: Who am I/are we representing – on whose behalf is this blog published? Who do I need to convince? What do they need to be persuaded of to support me/us? What needs to be done to achieve that? Each of these questions can be asked of the use of a blog, and applied to the online audience – just as they can of any other campaign and community.

Sta r t ea rly, a nd work long ter m If you want to win a seat, whether in Parliament or in your Local


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Council, you need to be known locally. Preferably, you need to be known (or come to be known) as a local. Candidates are best appointed as far in advance as possible, which gives a period of several years to work in the community building support. The same principles apply to a political blog.

Build suppor t over time When you start a blog, your visitors will largely come via three routes: your fellow bloggers, search engines such as Google, and links from relevant websites. It will take up to 6-12 months of consistent work to gain credibility with your fellow bloggers – and to gain credibility with the right fellow bloggers. Until that point, they will link to you and send you visitors based purely on trust, or on the relevance of individual articles. In the UK, “search engines” means Google; it is the dictator of the Internet in this country with an 80% share of the UK search market. Google often waits as long as 6-9 months before placing you high enough in search results to send you many visitors. Relevant websites may be major sites in your niche, directories, your local council or even the BBC Regional website. You can approach these to ask for a listing, and such links will help promote your blog with other bloggers and search engines.

Principles to Apply Be tr a nspa rent One major difference between blogs and newspapers is that blogs are usually more transparent. Newspapers often do not declare gifts and travel expenses paid; good bloggers do. Many blogs have their own voluntary “register of interests”. If you write about something, but do not declare a personal or

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financial interest, you will (rightly) be treated quite roughly when you are found out – especially if you are a public figure. Be consistent Do not start something you will not be able to maintain. Your blog is yours, and it is up to you to set your targets and to meet them. There is no problem if you wish to post daily, weekly, occasionally or even seasonally - as long as your readers know what to expect. Do not, however, give hostages to fortune. And please, do not apologise for “lack of blogging”. One of my pet hates is people who do that all the time. They would be able to do much more writing if they did much less apologising. If you find yourself needing more material for your blog, why not make it a “team” blog, or use “guest bloggers”. The latter is one good reason to develop a network of “blog friends” – or to join a network such as Blogpower (http://defendingtheblog.blogspot.com).

Be circumspect A blog is a publication, and you are subject to the same laws as your local paper – without a legal specialist. Be (reasonably) circumspect, and do not give too many hostages to fortune. The Internet does not forget anything you say. Good ideas are to check two sources for anything questionable, and to ask a specialist blogger if necessary – most will give a little time to help a fellow “amateur” understand their subject. If you receive help, link back to their blog as a thank-you. Be a nonymous? There is a place for the anonymous blog. The upside is that what you say will not affect your daily life and reputation – unless you are unmasked. The downside is that what you say will not affect your daily life and reputation – unless you are unmasked.


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If you are running a political blog aiming to help your political profile in the wider society, an anonymous blog is not an option. My blog – The Wardman Wire – is pseudonymous because I like to keep my online political writing separate from my work.

Enjoy it! And finally, don’t be surprised at your own success. If you stick at writing a political blog, you may find that after a year or eighteen months you have as many visitors as the circulation of your local paper. At that point you will have understood the fun of political blogging, and will have a number of new friends (and a few enemies). If you last eighteen months of posting regularly and thoughtfully, you will probably deserve the success.

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Under the hood: technical notes Matt Wardman THE WARDMAN WIRE: http://www.mattwardman.com/blog

This is the boring bit, but if you get these wrong you will regret it. These are my views, and some others will not agree.

Put your blog in the right place Blogs suffer very badly when they move around the internet, because links and authority in search engines are based on specific web page addresses (called “permalinks” in blog-speak). A blog that moves to a new location has to start from scratch again. It can be done, but it is an intricate process that takes up your valuable time - and is not necessary when you plan properly.

Choose a domain name carefully Think carefully about your domain name - and try not to change it in the future. There is at least one Westminster MP who has “AM” in his domain name from when he used to be in the Welsh Assembly. My preference is to use a personal name or pseudonym to create a personal “brand”. One hazard of this approach is that a wellknown name can bury you in the search engine results, which is bad luck for politicians called John Smith or Whitney Houston. I share “Matt Wardman” with a part time gay model called


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“Matthew Wardman”, which is a little close for comfort but manageable.

Use a UK domain name Unless there is a very good reason, use a “dot uk” domain name. Google UK prioritises these over international (e.g., .com) domain names in its search results, and accounts for more than half of all UK internet searches. I cannot overemphasise this point. A lot of important UK Political Blogs are stranded on “dot com” domain names like beached whales - so this is one way that new blogs can steal a march on the “oldies”.

Get your domain early Even if you are not starting at once, get a domain now - if you can predict the name. Put up a basic blog and post occasional articles on it. Submit it to internet directories, and ask a few blog-friends to link to you. This will help shorten the delay to gain visibility once you really start.

Own your own Blog Own your publishing platform, your own separate domain name and make sure that you are not dependent on your current position or employer. That way they cannot close you down, and you do not risk embarrassing the organisation by something you say. The only exception is if you are writing a blog that reflects your professional role, and will be closed down when you leave. However, in that case you should consider writing a personal blog in addition. So, be an “owner occupier” blogger rather than living on somebody else’s system (e.g., Blogger), even if it is rent-free. You have less control and less flexibility as a tenant.

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The American political blogosphere in 2007 and beyond David Wescott APCO ONLINE www.apcoworldwide.com

While political blogs are not yet dominant brands in American political discourse, they gained respect from traditional media and national political campaigns in 2007. Political historians will designate 2007 as the year the online channel became a fully-integrated component of political communications strategy, and not a gimmicky afterthought. Political bloggers are driving most if not all of the innovation in political communications strategy today. Their audience has grown to the point where they have become a permanent part of the political establishment.

The conservatives American conservative political bloggers, not surprisingly, are leveraging market forces to establish their position as a legitimate component of the conservative communications echo chamber. For example, many top-tier conservative political blogs have affiliated with a branded online advertising network, Pajamas Media. The affiliation not only provides a potential source of revenue, the brand itself helps position the blogger as part of a new conservative political establishment, bestowing a sense of legitimacy upon the blogger. Conservatives are also leveraging a medium where they already dominate and have strong ties to the Bush Administration – political talk radio – to engage bloggers and to centralize and amplify the conservative political discussion. The most notable example is


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Townhall.com, a conservative political portal and communitybuilding site that was acquired by Salem Communications, a leading conservative radio network. Top conservative radio hosts in the network such as Bill Bennett (a former US Secretary of Education), Hugh Hewitt and Michael Medved write blogs on the Town Hall site. The site enables and encourages the public to publish blogs in the Town Hall portal, and the service sends “breaking news” and other content to their member bloggers, providing the “talking points” for the daily discussion. Other innovators in the conservative political blogosphere include Michelle Malkin, who leverages the content from her personal blog along with other sites to publish Hot Air, a political group blog that features video and other multimedia. The innovation among American political conservatives has helped build one of the most deeply integrated online communities. Messages moves so seamlessly and are amplified so strongly in this community that it often extends the life of a story in the traditional media. For example, an internal analysis at APCO Worldwide revealed the top American conservative political bloggers were actively discussing the thwarted bomb attack in Glasgow with a greater intensity and duration than even British and Scottish conservative bloggers were.

The liberals Liberal political bloggers are no less innovative. They have leveraged technology to transform a diverse and dispersed audience into the largest grassroots political fundraising network in human history. Liberal bloggers have resisted the urge to centralize and amplify a single political discussion. Instead they direct readers to fundraising sites such as Act Blue and urge them to contribute to a wide range of Democratic candidates and causes. This audience

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is growing rapidly and is generating the results that matter most to the Democratic Party – fundraising parity with Republicans and increased voter registration in states where Democrats have not been competitive in recent years. Consequently, top liberal political bloggers have built substantial influence within the Democratic party. Yearly Kos, an annual convention of liberal bloggers named after the popular liberal blog Daily Kos, played host in August to all of the major Democratic candidates for President. Daily Kos’ founder, Markos Moulitsas, was invited on the national public affairs television show Meet the Press to debate Harld Ford Jr., a former Congressman and head of a centrist think tank, on the issue of the future leadership of the Democratic party. Liberal blogs are driving innovation in communications and fundraising for the campaigns as well, most notably the campaigns for Barack Obama and John Edwards. These campaigns have hired professionals from the blogging ranks and are leveraging the tools that bloggers have developed and perfected – multimedia, direct links to fundraising, and expansion into social networks. For example, the Democratic candidates gained a first-mover advantage by participating in the “Youtube Debate,” in which the candidates answered video questions that were sent directly from American voters via the popular online video repository.

The future Political discussions will no doubt continue online and bloggers will continue to be recognized as opinion leaders that lead many of those discussions. However, these discussions will no longer reside solely on what we now consider to be “political blogs.” Advances in communications technology are nudging political discussions beyond blogs into other online media. Political groups


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have existed on social network utilities such as MySpace for years, and these groups will grow in influence and numbers. Furthermore, now that Facebook has opened its platform to applications from independent developers, political advocates and pundits will have new tools available to them to transform discussion into action – donating to a campaign or cause, signing a petition, developing a group-authored position paper through a wiki, or even perhaps helping people register to vote. Some of the tools that the Edwards and Obama campaigns are experimenting with today, such as Twitter, a “microblogging” social network, may become part of a standard communications toolkit in the very near future. Blogs will still be a relevant and powerful tool for political discussion, but these discussions are already migrating on to blogs not readily known for advocacy or activism. For example, BlogHer is the world’s largest blog network with more than 10,000 (mostly) female members publishing over 12,000 blogs. The organization has shattered the “mommy-blogger” stereotype and has launched BlogHers Act, a nonpartisan online initiative that will ask member-developed questions directly to the presidential campaigns and will educate people on global health – the issue chosen by its members. A similar initiative has formed in Canada around environmental issues. These blogs don’t necessarily raise campaign funds or serve as a component of the messaging echo chamber. They do, however, offer candidates access to perhaps the largest community of “undecided” voters online. A small handful of companies are already engaging these online communities to discuss political issues. The candidates won’t be far behind.

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Blogging: what’s in it for political parties? Mark Pack LIB DEM VOICE: www.libdemvoice.org

Compare a newspaper publisher with a book publisher. Newspaper publishers don’t need to let you know when the next edition of their paper comes out. Whether it’s a daily or a weekly newspaper, you know when the next edition is out. You don’t have to see an advert, receive a mailshot or pass a display in a shop window to know when there’s a new edition of The News of the World or The Observer out. But it’s a quite different matter with books. Minor exceptions such as Christmas Annuals aside, publishers have to put huge efforts into telling people when a new book by their favourite author is published. You can’t count on people going to their local shop on a Tuesday and knowing that a new book will be out in the way that you can with a newspaper. That, at heart, is the difference between a blog and a website. There are (or rather used to be) various technical differences between the two, but they have become fairly blurred with many features of one now appearing on the other. RSS feeds? Photo galleries? Email sign ups? Archive pages? They all now appear as often on blogs as on websites. At heart though there is still a difference. It is an instinctive one which comes from the diary structure at the core of blogging. The essence of having a chronologically-ordered set of posts which is regularly updated is that readers are far more willing to come back of their own volition to see the latest instalments than they are with a traditional website.


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Of course there are exceptions to this – such as a sports news website where readers know there will (or should) be interesting new information as each sporting fixture concludes – but if you want to build up an ongoing stream of communication with readers who come back again and again, then a blogging approach is usually far more fruitful than a website. Therefore, for a political party looking to create a dialogue with voters, supporters or members, blogging has much to commend it. It is not the only benefit of blogging though, as is reflected by the four-pronged approach the Liberal Democrats have taken to getting the best out of blogging. The first prong is made up of those websites that happen to use blogging software under the hood. A good example of this is www.nhssos.com – a normal website in purpose and functionality, but it uses the WordPress blogging platform simply because it is such a powerful and cheap way of putting something together even when that something is more a traditional website than a blog. The second is having a set of “official” and “central” party blogs for on-going issues and campaigns, such as www.corruptionisacrime.com and www.homeofficewatch.com. Both are for areas where there is a steady flow of new stories as time marches on, and so a blog-like approach works best, presenting information chronologically and avoiding the need to massively rewrite existing content as new information comes to light in the way that a static website might require. The third prong is the encouragement given to Liberal Democrats who hold public elected office to blog, through a mix of training, provision of tools, exhortation and finger crossing. Around 10% of Liberal Democrat MPs blog at the moment with, to the best of my knowledge, all of them personally writing their pieces – a very important condition for a successful politician’s blog.

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Of course different MPs will make different judgements about the best use of their time, but overall the size of this blogging group gives a strong Liberal Democrat online presence when there are contentious issues in the air and people looking for political commentary online. But many of the most successful blogs are those by councillors (such as http://oxfordliberal.blogspot.com and http://jonathanwallace.blogspot.com), which often build up local audiences that are of a size where influencing (local) election results fairly directly becomes a reality. The fourth prong is encouraging “unofficial” blogs by party members, such as through the “Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year” award. Liberal Democrat Voice (www.libdemvoice.org) – where I am one of the regular posters – is a good example of the benefits unofficial blogs can bring parties. By being unofficial the site can cover more controversial and interesting topics than an “"official site". At times such as leadership speculation, major internal policy debates or new opinion polls, there is often much that a party's members and supporters want to read or talk about which do not sit easily on official sites. This is where unofficial sites really come into their own. Unofficial blogs are not always met with open arms and enthusiasm, and doubtless ConservativeHome (www.conservativehome.blogs.com) has caused more than a few sighs of exasperation from Conservative Party officials at its very open approach to negative stories and discussing criticisms of the party with headlines such as, “Is the Conservative Party in ‘a very grave crisis’?” and pieces such as that from Mark Field MP boldy stating, “I believe that our by-election campaign in Ealing Southall may have done lasting damage to the Party”. Somewhat surprisingly, given it is the party of government and therefore – you would have thought – intrinsically of more inter-


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est than other parties – the Labour blogosphere is relatively small and under-developed. Sites such as www.labourhome.org are a great source of news and gossip on particular niches such as Labour Parliamentary selections but overall there is relatively little substantive news or significant gossip to be picked up from Labour sites. For those (like myself ) who wish to help get “official” party information out more widely, these unofficial sites bring the advantage that, when done well, their liveliness and even controversy-seeking means they get audiences that straightforward official channels of communication do not. That wider interaction with online communities also generates a fair degree of brickbats and negative comments, but there are essentially two attitudes to take towards criticism. You can wish it weren’t there, ignore it and hope it goes away – or you can welcome it being flushed out into the open for the opportunity that gives to confront, explain and persuade. By being more personal and more interactive that a website, blogging is well suited to helping spread those views and change minds; and that, in the end, is a large part of what political campaigning and communication is about.

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Temps de parole Aude Athimon Online Strategist, EMEA, APCO Worldwide

Every country or cultural entity, where blogging has come to maturity, can identify a seminal event that brought the power of blogging to the fore. France is no exception, as the 2007 presidential election provided the right set of circumstances to give "critical mass" to the blogosphere. Aside from the innate French love of political discourse, there are three elements worth mentioning that partially explain why political blogs increased significantly in France in the past year. The first is the most prosaic: image and positioning. Blogs helped individuals who have been very active on the French political scene ("elephants", as we call them) to revamp their image. An excellent example of this is Dominique Strauss-Kahn's blog (http://blogdsk.net). Former minister of economy and finance and 2007 runner up to presidential candidate Ségolène Royal, he was one of the first French politicians to enter the blogosphere, launching Le Blog de Dominique Strauss-Kahn in February 2004. His blog became one of the most visited, along with former Prime Minister Alain Juppé's blog during his period of political exile in Quebec in 2005 (http://www.al1jup.com). Strauss-Kahn, a dominant figure in the Socialist Party, has now been chosen by new French President Nicolas Sarkozy to be the French candidate for the presidency of the International Monetary Fund. For StraussKahn, the blog is an indispensable part of political strategy. As his director of Web strategy, Benjamin Griveaux told the New York


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Times, "blogs have not replaced traditional media, but they are absolutely necessary for every politician." The second is purely pragmatic: temps de parole, or "speaking time." Each candidate has a statutory, limited time to express his or her opinion during the campaign (temps de parole). The use of online media is not included in this quota, only television and radio. Political blogs created by the candidates for the election appeared to be a very useful way not only to engage in dialogue with the electors, but to prolong interaction with them. This is also an easy way to provide in-depth information on some themes that are rather difficult to express within the time constraints of television or radio. Subjects that are intellectually complex (e.g., fiscal laws, tax policy) can be given greater attention. Blogs also allow candidates to test ideas and get feedback from electors on their proposition ("debat participatif") during the campaign. Ségolène Royal's blog (http://www.desirsdavenir.org) is a good example of this. She devoted at least 10 percent of her campaign budget to online communication, and much was also made of her use of blog/Internet vocabulary in her speeches as all of the candidates vied for the approval of the online community - even if they didn't necessarily understand it. The third is, at some level, poetic: the future of France, as a nation, as an idea. After 12 years and two terms of a Chirac presidency, there was much riding on the 2007 election. Each of the candidates presented a distinct vision and direction for how France would move forward. Interest in the issues and engagement with the political process ran high. In addition, much had changed in the online world in France. This was obviously possible because of the high adoption rate of the Internet and broadband access that increased significantly since the last election. The tools and means of communication

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changed as well. France embraced the blogosphere with abandon: three million French internet users (12 percent of total users) have blogs online, while according to ComScore, 60 percent visited a blog in May - ahead of Britain's 40 percent and the United States' 33 percent. The combination of these factors led to a quantum leap for the online community into the heart of the political process. Politicians and mainstream journalists alike found the level of scrutiny from the blogosphere uncomfortable and, at times, unbearable. Each of the candidates suffered moments of stinging embarrassment at the hands of the bloggers: verbal missteps by Sarkozy and Royal, scrutiny of Royal's personal relationship with the head of the Socialist Party, the Green Party's man who claimed to arrive for an interview on a bicycle only to have bloggers post pictures of him exiting a car on his arrival. Alain Duhamel, iconic veteran political journalist, found himself sidelined for the duration of the campaign when he was suspended for voicing his support for the UDF party candidate to a group of students - several of whom were bloggers - in an ostensibly private speech. Many found the transparency, coarseness and invective of the blogosphere shocking. Meanwhile, the most influential bloggers found themselves coveted guests on the evening chat shows. It is interesting also to see that even French political programmes on television used online mechanisms,e.g., "100 minutes pour convaincre". Electors in the television show could ask their questions directly to the candidate. This is the first time that this has happened during a French election. The interest in blogs generated by the election turned France into one of the "power centres" of the European blogosphere, and no subject is left to languish in this great national discovery of its


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online voice. But it is the political blogs where the French love of political discourse comes to full flower. The political landscape has been transformed in France as a result of the 2007 election in many ways. There are new leaders for France, but also a new way of electing those leaders and holding them accountable. The wisest of France's current and future leaders will do well to remember the power that sits in the online community.

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Why MPs should blog! Lynne Featherstone MP http://lynnefeatherstone.org/blog.htm

Politicians are self-seeking, egotistical, lazy good for nothings who only care about self-promotion, getting their snouts in the trough and doing sweet FA for their constituents. They drink themselves into oblivion and eat lavishly every evening, all evening at the House of Commons. In life’s pecking order – they are the bottom of the pile. Well – that’s what how we lot are variously described. I don’t believe that is an entirely accurate description of the majority of MPs! From what I see of colleagues from all parties in the house – they seem on the whole to be an industrious and committed group of people who work pretty hard. Amongst any group of 650 or so people from any industry there will be a variety of competences, and work rates, but many do 70+ hours a week, with work spreading all through the weekend as well as the week. So – we have a big disconnect between image and reality. Blogging is one straight-from-the-horse’s-mouth way to fight back against such an appalling image! In a time when the media – national, regional or local – give so little time to what politicians are really up to, getting your own account over of what you are doing is often the only option. I started blogging back in 2003 because I could not bear the ‘you politicians you’re all the same’ type of comment. I’m not the same as that somewhat exaggerated introduction I just gave. I may not be perfect – but I have committed myself to public service for


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the last dozen years in one political form or another – and the essential driver for me - as it is for many colleagues across all parties – is to make the world a better place. That can be anything from helping an individual with a problem through to world peace – but the ambition is quite clear. I wasn’t an MP at the time I started blogging – but I was a local councillor (Haringey) and also on the London Assembly – and I wanted to tell the people who elected me what I was doing and what I was thinking about what was going on in my working world – the world they had elected me to. I wanted to create a relationship with readers of my blog, that would give them an insight not just in how I spent my day on their behalf – but also some sense of me as a human being. A blog, with its chronological diary like structure and natural invitation to write in a more personal manner, can do that in the way that a website (and I’d already had one for nearly five years at the time I started blogging) isn’t really suited. Apart from giving those who elected you an inside track on your activities – a blog is also an opportunity for two-way communication if you open it for comments. I didn’t go this for this for the first few years of being a blogger as my previous experience of looking at those comment blogs was that you got the same seven people making comments – generally opponents just being foul. However, the blogging community (which in itself has grown and flourished) itself gently persuaded me to open for comment – and comment can be pretty useful and instructive. When an issue blows up locally over something really divisive in the community or worrying for the community – posting it on my blog not only gives local people a chance to see what is going on or gives out really relevant information – but the comments can illuminate both sides of an argument – and (crucially) it is a very

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good way of people seeing and understanding that there are other views. I say “crucially” because – sadly - the general tenor of comments on the internet is one of unswerving certainty – the writer of the comment is absolutely sure they are correct and can’t see how anyone who isn’t a fool could possibly disagree with them though I am lucky to have acquired a handful of regular commentators on my blog who do engage in more thoughtful expressions of views. I don’t get an avalanche of comments (nothing like Iain Dale or Political Betting) but enough to be helpful and instructive and most months, even if not most weeks, I learn something new from a comment or pick up a useful lesson in how to be clearer in expressing my views. In addition, when blogging about an issue you also get people contacting you (not in the comments but often privately) with insider information. It is a great source of information and knowledge. Blogging has become an important communications channel and people all over the country, even world, check in. Certainly the opinion formers and media do – both locally and nationally. And it would be disingenuous to say that isn’t an advantage to those MPs who blog to be accessing that valuable community - but it isn’t and can’t be the main purpose - the media are not stupid. And neither are my constituents – so you need to be as real and open as is humanly possible without committing political suicide. If MPs are going to simply bleat the party message without any personalisation – then no one will bother to read their blog. It has to be a bit edgy, a bit dangerous politically – and more than anything – be what the MP actually thinks (and actually written by them too!). I think it is essential to keep writing in bad times as well as good. Difficult or embarrassing issues for the party – I still blog.


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Difficult or embarrassing issues for myself – I also still blog. Otherwise you are letting down your audience – and also missing out on the chance to put over your side of the story, with your own words and as briefly or as verbosely as you wish. The main danger for wannabe MP bloggers is what they say on their blogs being taken and used against them. Being the author of hundreds of thousands of words that are published for all to use and abuse is a danger. But you can pick with care what you say without making it anodyne or 100% tediously on message. Which brings me to the last couple of benefits. The very act of writing a blog and having to assemble my thoughts on my day or on an issue helps me decide exactly where I stand - on issues in particular. I have to know my own mind before I put it out there. It’s a good discipline! The other is a real bonus. When I find an issue that I want to campaign on – be that the DNA database, vulture funds or the genocide in Darfur – blogging sends it out there. It gets picked up by those of like mind or interest – be those professionals, experts or broadcasters – and from there it takes on a life of its own. It is a great campaign tool. So – my advice to MPs generally is to blog. Other MPs have very different types of blogs and an MPs blog can be anything that MP wants it to be. However, if you hate writing – don’t do it. If you think you can get one of your staff to do it – don’t do it. It is something that demands you yourself and constant devotion. Your blog must be the essence of you if you are to succeed. It is a modern medium for modern MPs – at least the brave and the good (ish)!

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Lefty blogs David Osler DAVE’S PART: www.davidosler.com

Yes, the far left does have a presence on the blogosphere, in all its fissiparous glory. But in comparison to other political outlooks, it is not taking full advantage of the platform offered by the new medium, I fear. Nor is it getting an even remotely similar audience share. Quizzed on this, many socialists would freely put their hands up. It seems the comrades simply prefer to flog Marxist theoretical journals just outside the door of a trade union meeting, just as they have done for decades, rather than to try to make a persuasive case for socialism online. They argue that sitting in front of a keyboard is no substitute for political activity, and that is indisputably true. But the two are not necessarily counterposed. The blog audience is considerably larger than the attendance at any public meeting the left is capable of organising these days, and it would be foolish not to try and engage with it. Let’s have a look at some of those websites giving it a bash. Leftwing blogging in Britain started in November 2002, with the launch of Harry’s Place, followed in July 2003 by Normblog. Each remains widely read. Both ‘Harry’ - now virtually retired from what evolved into a group blog that still bears his name - and Norman Geras claim still to be Marxists. But as they supported the US-led invasion of Iraq, many leftwing bloggers brand them de facto neocons. Whatever. Kudos for the pioneers, please.


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Another early Britleft blog was Lenin’s Tomb - Stalin’s Tombola to its detractors - which is written by Socialist Workers’ Party member Richard Seymour. You want uncritical boosterism of George Galloway and the ‘Iraqi resistance’? This is where to get it. Neither the politics nor the prolixity are to my taste, but there is no disputing that the guy is popular. As befits a collectivist ideology, there are a number of leftwing group blogs to look out for. Socialist Unity probably leads the pack in readership terms, but also check out Shiraz Socialist and Drink Soaked Trots for War. Individual efforts include A Very Public Sociologist, the work of Stoke-based PhD student Phil BC. Will Rubbish has attained widespread renown for A General Theory of Rubbish, which combines the insights of dialectic materialist philosophy with language far filthier than such comparative lightweight cussers of the right as Devil’s Kitchen. One of the undoubted hits on the leftwing blogosphere over the last year has been Splintered Sunrise, the work of one or more pseudonymous writers in Northern Ireland. It offers an entertaining far left take on the politics of the six counties, including such offbeat topics as the dress sense of 1970s Sinn Fein activists. Another blogger who sometimes ventures into similar territory is Liam Macuaid of Macuaid fame, who although Irish, is nowadays resident in London. Following his recent defection from Respect, he is also the number one source on the internal difficulties of Galloway’s outfit in its Bethnal Green & Bow stronghold. Special mention should be made of SouthpawPunch, an anonymous public school educated orthodox Trotskyist public relations consultant. The writing is sharp, although many find his ‘I am the only real revolutionary on the planet’ stance a tad pompous. Hence the creation of several none-too-complimentary parody sites.

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Kitnotes is bought to you by a young man who has already through three different revolutionary vanguard parties at the age of 22. He’s still young enough to have hang-ups about girls and whether or not to buy DJ kit. Bless. See also his youthful friend, John Angliss, who writes the often delphic You See, it is Simply a Very Young Boy’s Record. Other well-known leftwing bloggers include - in no particular order - Mike’s Little Red Page, Nation of Duncan, Neprimerimye, International Rooksbyism, Random Pottins and Whatever Happened to Leon Trotsky? Then there are the more Labour-orientated websites representing the hard left of the party. Worthy of note here are Labour’s Fightback by parliamentary researcher Owen Jones, Councillor Susan Press’s Grimmerupnorth, and the group blog Socialist Youth Network. Turning to the softer (but still identifiably socialist) left, we get to my former boss at Labour weekly Tribune, Paul Anderson. Gauche is often of high quality, if somewhat sporadic. Stumbling and Mumbling - written by journalist Chris Dillow occupies a similar political space, and is absolutely excellent. In fact, I’d rate it as Britain’s most intelligent leftwing blog. Paulie’s Never Trust a Hippie is a good read in a similar vein. Trade union blogs to mention include Jon’s Union Blog from Unison activist Jon Rogers, and group effort Union Futures.


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I’ll also loosely use the term ‘far left’ to cover other radical outlooks such as socialist feminism and ecosocialism. Bloggers of both these persuasions complained about not making the Dale Top 100 for 2006. While almost all of the sites listed above are written by blokes, socialist women should head straight for Stroppyblog, which has of late broadened into a group affair featuring a veritable A-team of Stroppybird, Janine and Marshajane. Harridan’s Place, I guess you could call it. Unknown Conscience features exiled New Yorker Tami, while long-standing blogger Hak Mao offers apercus on matters both feline and political. Greenies not to miss include Jimjay’s Daily (Maybe), complete with links to a selection of the 100 best green bloggers, and Green Party leader - sorry, principal male speaker - Derek Wall, who writes Another Green World. Lastly, of course, I naturally intend to give myself a plug. I’m trying to offer daily postings from an intelligent Marxist perspective, without beating people over the head with Trot jargon. I hope I’m largely succeeding, and have managed to get some worthwhile debates rolling in the process. So see you at www.davidosler.com.

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Local government blogs: muttering to ourselves? Lee Rowley MAIDA VALE CONSERVATIVES http://maidavaleconservatives.com

Blogging, it seems, is the new black. Everyone is at it, and those of us in local government are no exception. Many local councils now have at least one member who is experimenting with blogging. Two or three years ago, the idea of a councillor having a website would have been exceptional. Now, while it’s not quite yet mainstream, it’s certainly possible. Half way through last year, with all the buzz about blogging, my ward colleagues and I decided to jump in as well. In 2006 I was elected for the first time to Westminster City Council, representing the very best part of London, Maida Vale. Our area, we figured, was exactly the kind of place which would respond positively to blogging, containing a high proportion of well-informed, technology-savvy residents who, while spending the majority of their lives valiantly working 80 hour weeks for Linklaters or J.P. Morgan, remained passionate about their local area. And so, out of all this deep theorising, maidavaleconservatives.com was born. And the last twelve months has certainly been interesting. On a positive note, we’ve achieved a readership currently averaging about 100 per week, with profile loads of anything up to double that amount. Our returning visitor count is moving up, with a hardcore of 20% of visitors coming back time and time again to read our musings. We’re leading (and, importantly, showing that we’re leading) on crucial issues for local residents and giving them


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the opportunity to chart our progress over time. Equally, we’re gaining a growing repository of stories which shows what we’ve done for our residents, on a block-by-block, road-by-road basis. And then – over a glass of wine at a Council reception a couple of months ago – came the reality check. “Impressive, Lee,” remarked one of my colleagues, whilst reaching for a nibble. “Read it all the time. Very good. Trouble is, of course, total lack of comments from residents – I mean are any of them actually reading it?” And with that unintentionally brutal put-down, a question was born. Three years in, since pioneers such as Iain Lindley and Robin Millar saw the potential for local government blogs, just how far have we got as a group? We are quickly gaining the scale, but can we really say that we are really talking to (as opposed to talking at or talking past) our residents? Or are some of us unintentionally engaging in an exercise where pols largely talk to pols? Ultimately, and while we’re all at different stages of development, is it time that the local government blogging community took a stock check to make sure we’re doing what we originally set out to do? Without going all horribly Mandelson-esque, the message affects the brand. Perhaps much to the chagrin of some of us, elections aren’t extended beauty contests and we don’t get votes for looking pretty or having good hair. What comes out of our mouths, and what we write, is actually rather important and all goes to shape that brand. Take, for example, the hours we spend trudging door-todoor, in all weathers, to deliver leaflets which, for the most part, are quickly and unceremoniously binned. We’re delivering a message, and ultimately it’s a message that is important. Taking that a stage further then, the choice of stories that some colleagues choose to blog about is sometimes a little surprising. Our primary audience is a select group of residents tied by geography and community, and presumably we’ve set up a blog to

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show them that (i) we exist and (ii) we are getting things done. As bloggers, we have two broad choices – to frame a local debate or to join a national one. Of course it’s absolutely fine to choose the latter, but if we do, what is questionable is whether the “Cllr” prefix is of any real relevance at all. Setting up the standard “Little Moreton Matters” blog is all very well but the title becomes a bit of a red herring if the website is simply a front for regurgitating the latest missives from John McDonnell4Leader. And while you have to give good marks to the blogger who actually goes round and takes photos of their local parks and trees, if those photos are then used as (frankly rather tenuous) illustrations of the perils of global climate change and how we all need to start hugging trees, it isn’t really that local is it? Particularly when a large proportion of those you happen to be asking to go and live in a tree house and chant live in million pound properties in Northwest London. Another key question is around commitment. As bloggers, the cardinal rule we cannot break is to go awol. Recently, whilst on his trip to Rwanda and without his usual access to the internet, Iain Dale commented that his hit count had gone down by a third. Perhaps that says something about the fickleness of political junkies. But it also shows how important it is to retain an audience, once captured. And at least on this point, we seem to be doing quite well. Quickly surveying 100 randomly selected blogs (across all three parties), almost two-thirds had been updated within the previous week. The problem, however, was the 20% of blogs which hadn’t been touched in three months. Genuine reasons, no doubt, for each one. But at the same time they give out a message to local residents that is easily misinterpreted (or, more accurately, easily slotted into a Focus leaflet). And, finally, the 800lb gorilla in the room concerns just how we get residents to our masterpieces in democratic engagement in the


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first place. Despite several prominent leaflet drops in Maida Vale, we’ve been a little disappointed when our stat counter has steadfastly refused to meaningfully budge afterwards. Equally, we know that we haven’t yet hooked in those crucial half dozen or so residents who want to engage in the debate – to leave comments, to send e-mails, to suggest stories – from which hopefully a larger community will blossom. Others, of course, are having much more luck. Leah Fraser has had 16,000 hits on her website; Nick Wallis’s Darlington Councillor blog gets a steady stream of comments. The harsh reality is that while we all can pat ourselves on the back for using new media, most of us have to fall back on shoe leather and other traditional campaigning methods to point people to the blog in the first place. Local government blogging is slowly coming of age. Every single blog created is a testament to the hard-work and dedication of Councillors up and down the country. And half the beauty of the internet is the diverse and varied way which Councillors have chosen to speak to their residents. In a hundred years time, social historians will certainly be awash in thousands of stories tracking the politics of communities up and down the country (although any that stumble across my blog might also be slightly worried about just how obsessed I am becoming about the hole digging escapades of Thames Water in Maida Vale). But, ultimately, we aren’t writing blogs for posterity. And that’s why there’s a real debate to be had about how effective we’re being. On a personal level, a year (and 200 stories) in, I certainly wouldn’t be without it. But the question still remains – are we talking to our audience or to ourselves? That’s a difficult one. And given the speed of change on the internet, I’m sure the answer to that question will be very different in twelve months to the one now.

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The state of the left of centre blogosphere Jon Worth http://blog.jonworth.eu

2007 was the year that political blogging became mainstream within the Labour Party. After leadership debates in previous years in the other major parties, this year the focus was on Labour and – in the absence of a contest for leader – it was the election for the Deputy Leadership where the main political battles were fought. Aspects of the campaigns were played out online, in part through the medium of blogging. Four of the six Deputy Leadership contenders ran blogs. Harriet Harman posted herself and debated political issues, while Jon Cruddas, Hazel Blears and Alan Johnson relied on a mixture of personal posts and contributions from others. The idea was to try to make a more straightforward and honest portrayal of the candidates and – at least for Harman and Cruddas – allow interaction between site visitors and the candidates themselves. The appeal of blogging for candidates in an internal election is strong. The electorate is known and is dispersed across the country, and the issues at stake generally motivate those voting. Blogging, and other Web 2.0 technology, can be used to improve the link between the candidates and the individuals that will select them. With an election campaign on the horizon, there will undoubtedly be a role for blogging as a means to motivate activists within the party.


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Using a blog to strengthen the bond between a local electorate and its MP or local councillor is the second major sphere of Labour blogging to develop in 2007. At the point of writing, Bloggers4Labour lists 26 MPs and 81 councillors that write blogs, a major increase over the past 12 months. Leading the charge has been Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Derek Wyatt who has set himself the target to attract more readers to his website and blog than read the local newspaper in his constituency. He won a 2006 New Statesman New Media Award for his efforts and, with a majority of just 79 votes to defend at the next election, is staking his hopes on using the internet to strengthen his local appeal. Other Labour MP bloggers such as Tom Watson have succeeded in boosting their own profiles, although dealing with Westminster rumour is not a reliable way to build local support. Equally documenting the everyday life of a MP fails to hit the mark; it is good to know that Sadiq Khan attended a certain event on a particular day but how this translates into effective action is not always clear. Blogs written on government websites, such as David Miliband’s Defra blog, fall into the trap of being a little bit stale as a result of the constraints of being a government minister. It will be interesting to see whether Miliband can manage to keep up his blogging in the FCO. Among Labour Councillor Bloggers, Bob Piper (Sandwell) and Antonia Bance (Rose Hill, Oxford) are the most known, but both seldom write about the Council work they do, instead choosing to debate issues of national importance. The work reporting on everyday council activity, such as Mary Foulkes (Livsey, Southwark), Anthony McKeown (Gamesley, High Peak) and Nigel Ash (Ashfield, Wigan) often goes unnoticed beyond the local area. It is hard work, but vital to strengthen local democracy.

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Overall it is vital for Labour’s elected representatives to write blogs and more should undoubtedly use the technology in the future. However, it is important to determine at the outset what the aim of a blog will be and how that will fit with a MP’s or councillor’s work. The rest of the Labour blogosphere – individual party members and supporters making contributions – has continued to develop in terms of total numbers of blogs being written, and the organisation of those blogs has started to coalesce in 3 different spheres. Bloggers4Labour, run by Andrew Regan, is the loosest network, aggregating the latest posts from 500 Labour blogs to give a distilled summary of what Labour supporters are writing, from hard left to Blairite. There is no attempt to agree any sort of political stance at Bloggers4Labour; a wish to use the internet for politics is what holds the network together. LabourHome, run by Alex Hilton, is single site with contributions from a large number of different authors. While the contributions on the site are uniquely about Labour political issues, it lacks an overall editorial line and the quality of the contributions varies. The Labour Party’s own MpURL system offers party members the opportunity to write their own blogs. So far the technology has proven complicated to use although the idea of getting as many party members writing online is a good one and this area will develop in the coming months. However, when set in an international comparison with other parties of the centre-left, the Labour blogosphere has a lot of room for improvement. The importance of political blogs such as Daily Kos that broadly support the Democrats in the USA is well known. The resignation of Republican Trent Lott, in largest part due to the persistence of bloggers, shows the power of the medium. In


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France, the left set the online agenda for the Presidential debate and online political activism was vital to Ségolène Royal’s selection as the PS candidate for President. In Sweden, investigations started by Social Democrat blogger Magnus Ljungkvist led to the resignation a government minister in the centre-right government. In all of the international examples, the mainstream media took up the stories that had first been investigated by organised political bloggers. The same development has yet to occur on the centre-left in the UK. The Labour blogosphere lacks any defining figures with the degree of integrity and investigation skills to be able to bridge the gap between blogging and the traditional media. It could be argued that this is all harder for Labour as the party of government, as it is easier for bloggers to work against a defined enemy. Yet political blogging will not disappear – Labour needs to adapt and adjust and that process is only just starting.

Jon Worth was webmanager of Harriet Harman’s Deputy Leadership website. He works as a freelance website designer and writes his own blog at http://blog.jonworth.eu/

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The state of the centre right blogosphere Phil Hendren DIZZY THINKS: ttp://dizzythinks.net

There is little doubt that the health of conservative and centre-right blogging today is good. Actually, it’s not just good, it is positively blooming. There are new blogs appearing all the time, and the sheer numbers indicate a community of commentators, citizen journalists and political activists that are engaging in debate and discussion on a daily basis. The centre-right blogs are getting somewhere in the region of a million or so readers a month between them, which, for something that can be quite niche remains impressive. Underpinning all of this is a relatively diverse community of readers and writers ranging from the non-politically active comment maker, to party activists, to journalists, to Parliamentary candidates, to elected representatives such as councillors and MPs and so on. Were one to make any criticism of it, it would be that it is a little male heavy... boys with their toys perhaps? This small criticism aside, there can be no doubt that centreright and conservative blogging is purring like a lion on the Masai Mara that’s just had a really big dinner. Of course the health of centre-right blogging is due, at least in part, to the advantage of political opposition. Being critical or digging for incidents that will embarrass an incumbent will almost always be easier than blogging in support of the incumbent. One of the inevitable consequences of the Left’s electoral dominance in the last decade, when in conjunction with the increasing reach of the Internet, has


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been the rise of the centre-right blog as the anti-Establishment voice. The irony should not be lost here that the antiEstablishment is really the wannabe-Establishment until the pendulum swings back and the dichotomy flips. The result of being in the opposing position during the last 12 months has meant that the centre-right blogs have had some amazing success in bleeding their presence across the digital boundary and into the press and broadcast mainstream. There have been notable instances where they have driven the news agenda. Successes have ranged from breaking news on the front pages of the national press and regular source citations in diary columns; to producing six-minute shorts about blogging for BBC Newsnight; and even outright plagiarism by the mainstream media in some cases. A recent Charity Commission investigation into a think-tank linked to Gordon Brown came about as a result of blog influence, and many of the so-called “A List” blogs on the centre-right are must-reads for not just mainstream media hacks, but also PR and monitoring agencies. Meanwhile, the mainstream media itself has embraced the technology, and, like the individuals before them, are using these publishing tools to expand the influence and the growth of centre-right news and opinion - the Spectator Coffee House blog springs to mind in this respect. Whilst some might say they are just the old media

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grasping at new media, this is simply not the case for the Coffee House, and it has, in fact slipped into the world of centre-right blogs quite brilliantly within just a matter of months of being created. Its success has been in actually understanding the rapidity and immediacy of the publishing medium. The Coffee House, with its many contributors and regular updates of rolling comment and news is actually reminiscent of The Corner at National Review Online or The Salon just under a decade ago. It is not just individuals and journalists who are playing the game on the centre-right space of the UK Internet. The Conservative Party too has also begun to embrace the power that a blog can have. Prospective Parliamentary candidates have been positively encouraged to have blogs, as too have councillors. There are also now a number of Tory MPs with blogs which are producing excellent content, news and opinion. What’s more, it has been around a year since the launch of WebCameron which was derided as a gimmick at first, but has now seen the Labour Party follow with a YouTube channel, and even Downing Street. Yet, whilst centre-right and conservative blogging is indeed healthy today there are, as always, buts. Put simply it needs to prepare for war, and beware the possibility of a war on two fronts. The Internet, and the technology upon which it sits is quite possibly the fastest moving industry in the history of mankind. As the end of this electoral cycle nears so to does the pace with which the landscape is changing and preparing for an online battle as much as an offline one. It is likely that over the next year or so that the centre-right will find itself facing an onslaught from the Left online. Not an onslaught of words alone, but instead a war that will use technology as part of its campaign as well. The centreright and conservative blogs are in jubilant mode at the moment but they should not become complacent.


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However, it is not just the enemy without that they should fear, but the enemy within as well. Centre-right blogs - especially those with links to the Conservative Party - need to be aware that disagreement online between each other over matters of policy are public rows. The mainstream media, which has become friendly with the centre-right blog world will just as soon use it as evidence of division if it sells papers or someone spins it that way in the war on the other front. To understand the seriousness of the changed landscape the question to ask is this: How would Clause IV have gone for Blair if the Internet today had existed then?

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The state of LibDem blogging in the UK Stephen Tall A LIBERAL GOES A LONG WAY: http://oxfordliberal.blogspot.com

Anyone still harbouring the hackneyed view that Liberal Democrats are a bunch of equivocating well-on-the-one-handbut-on-the-other nicebodies, who wouldn’t say boo to an organic free-range goose, should visit www.libdemblogs.co.uk. There you will find aggregated each day for your reading pleasure the opinionated postings of over 130 LibDems, displaying a frenetic range of topic, content and style. Punchy op-ed commentary on the big national and international issues of the day nestles alongside tales of potholes, pedestrian crossings and planning applications in Coketown. It is emblematic of LibDem thinking that this should be so: the local and global are too intrinsically intertwined for it not to be. Indeed, the LibDem blogs ‘Aggregator’ is itself a signature of libTHE TOP 10 UNDERRATED BLOGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

A Liberal Goes a Long Way Dave's Part Liberal England Waendel Journal Little Man in a Toque Glyn Davies Cicero's Songs Tygerland Richard Spring MP Philobiblon

http://oxfordliberal.blogspot.com http://davidosler.com http://liberalengland.blogspot.com http://tonysharp.blogspot.com http://www.toque.co.uk http://glyndaviesam.blogspot.com http://cicersosongs.blogspot.com http://www.tygerland.net http://richardspring.mpblogs.com http://philobiblon.co.uk

COMPILED BY IAIN DALE


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eralism: diverse individual thinking finding strengthened expression through a collective community venture. A year ago, at our 2006 conference in Brighton, the LibDems became the first national party to recognise the blogging fraternity - and it is a fraternity; the scarcity of women unhealthily skews the blogosphere - launching an inaugural ‘Blog of the Year’ award, which earned national media coverage. But, in fact, it was eight months earlier that LibDem blogs first made their mark, during the leadership contest sparked by Charles Kennedy’s resignation. The momentum and profile of initial-outsider Chris Huhne’s campaign was boosted by declarations of support from some leading LibDem bloggers, inspiring a ‘Bloggers for Huhne’ section on his campaign website. Ever since, the party has taken increasing time and effort to reach out to bloggers - not simply through the awards ceremony, but also by giving access to press conferences, and interviews with senior MPs, such as Ed Davey and Ming Campbell. Does this present a danger to those of us who blog? Should we be concerned that, as the party seeks to embrace us, we’ll become smothered? Clearly that’s a risk, but then any new phenomenon is laden with risks. Bloggers who compromise themselves, who sacrifice their authentic independence for the vicarious thrill of being among the favoured élite, lose their credibility - as those who read, and post to, their blogs will be swift to point out. Besides, the LibDems are not that kind of party. I recall the media office phoning to say they had suggested Sky News contact me for a vox pop following a controversial conference vote. “Is there a particular line the party wants to get across?” I asked. (I wasn’t offering to be their patsy, but I thought I’d find out just the same.) “It’s entirely up to you; they want to hear from someone a bit independent,” came the reply. So much for Svengalian spin-

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doctors: Peter Mandelson would have been turning in his Eurogravy. In any case, those of us who sit at a computer should beware of turning into Mr Pooter. It is easy to exaggerate the importance of blogs, their novelty perhaps obscuring the fact that they remain a niche. Even the über-blogs, like Iain Dale’s and Guido Fawkes’, attract around 250,000 unique visitors each month. Yes, it’s impressive… but that’s the same number as pay for their copy of The Independent, the UK’s lowest circulation national newspaper, each and every day. (The nearest comparison for my blog is probably the Biggleswade Chronicle.) Perhaps the biggest function which blogs perform is the influence they are beginning to exert on the mainstream media. Blogging is prime retail for journalists: it is an easy and unending source of news stories and diary snippets. To politicians, this can spell either manna from heaven, or gaffes from hell. In the former camp, resides Lynne Featherstone, the LibDem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, who ousted the Labour incumbent at the 2005 general election with a huge 14.6 per cent swing. Alongside the usual hard slog of ‘pavement politics’, and a formidably well-organised campaign, her profile was pepped up by her sparky, feisty blog. The outspoken blog of Welsh Assembly member Peter Black has earned him copious media coverage, especially in the febrile weeks after May’s inconclusive election results, as he chronicled the twists and turns of the coalition negotiations. But it doesn’t always work to the good. When Jody Dunn, the LibDem candidate in the 2004 Hartlepool by-election, blogged that she had canvassing a street whose residents were “either drunk, flanked by an ugly dog, or undressed”, Labour made the most of her quip, and clung on to the seat. Perhaps it is because the rewards do not yet outweigh the risks


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that few LibDem Parliamentarians are bloggers. In addition to Lynne, only three MPs have so far been taken by the blogging muse - John Hemming, Adrian Sanders and Steve Webb – as well as two MEPs, Sajjad Karim and Graham Watson, and one peer, Lord Eric Avebury. Yet alongside this understandable caution, there may be at least as much prioritisation. Elected representatives, at local or national level, may well ponder if blogging is the best use of their campaigning time - compared, say, to producing regular newsletters delivered through every door, or holding surgeries for residents, or simply ensuring they’re keeping on top of their casework. After all, it’s likely your blog will be read chiefly by the cognoscenti in your patch, both your supporters and your opponents. If you’re serious about winning votes you need to be in touch with precisely those people who are least likely casually to surf their way to your blog, and even less likely to read your latest, learned disquisitions on the EU treaty referendum, or the need for electoral reform. The lesson is simple (the best lessons usually are): blog if you want to, not because you feel you have to. If you find it a chore, and resent the time it takes, your apathy will seep through the screen. It is the enthusiasm of the top bloggers - their drive to connect with their readers - which makes them work. And if you have that passion, your blog can become a powerful campaigning tool; or it can simply be your space to re-cast your half-formed thoughts into something semi-coherent for public consumption. Either way, fasten your seatbelts, prepare for takeoff, and welcome to the LibDem blogosphere.

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Political blogging: the space between debate and action Gez Smith www.delib.co.uk/dblog

Currently, blogging activity in the political sphere falls predominantly into two categories: interested citizens blogging their political opinions (‘I hate Cameron’, ‘Tony Bliar out’, ‘the council is more corrupt than a melted floppy disk’) and active politicians blogging their activities (‘today I personally fixed a broken fence in Lower Whochester’, ‘this week, I have been mostly visiting constituents’). There is, however, a gaping hole in the political blogosphere between these two camps, an element of blogging which is far less prevalent but could become a growth area of the future: the use of blogging as a method for public engagement in the formal process of policy formation, bridging the gap between opinion and action. This strand of e-government, generally known as e-democracy, has made shaky but steady progress in the UK over the last few years. In 2004, the ODPM as was spent millions of pounds piloting new forms of online engagement for local authorities across the UK with the National Project for Local e-Democracy. Out of this grew the ‘Read my day’ project (http://www.readmyday.co.uk), which encouraged elected members and council officers to blog about their work and experiences, with mixed results. The project also saw the piloting of new forms of consulting and engaging directly on policy for-


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mation matters through online surveys, discussion forums and live chats. Again, some elements of this worked more successfully than others, but the scene was set for influence over governmental processes to be brought into the realm of the Internet. However, this work has seen slower progress than might have been expected. Whilst the general inertia of local, and indeed central, government is decidedly a factor in this, other key barriers have been issues of cost, impact and benefit. Setting up an e-consultation system for an authority in many cases exceeds the authority’s total spend on consultation activity for a year, if not longer. e-consultation in the form of mere online surveys can be a blunt tool when trying to replicate the varied, nuanced and sophisticated methodologies of existing offline market research practices. Often an online consultation will elicit few responses, and once this has happened, online political engagement is perceived more as snake oil than panacea. Many’s the time we have heard the demonstrably unlikely response from a local authority that ‘people round here don’t use the Internet’ (a complaint rarely heard from the still burgeoning online retail sector). Frequently, governmental online consultations fail because of the belief that if you put something on the internet, people will find it, as if the internet were some sort of high street that people walk along, noticing all the different products on offer in one simple process. The suspicion in this instance might be that this belief stems from the prevailing attitude, especially in local government, that the council is the council, and if people want to access its services, they will have to come and look for them, driven by need. Local authority websites often come across as virtual ‘council houses’, plonked firmly in the middle of town for people to find, with scant regard for interlinkages with the rest of online society.

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So, given these barriers, how can blogging be of assistance? Well, first of all, blogging software is now so simple, accessible and, well, free, that the issue of cost almost goes out of the window. This is not to say that there is not a need to spend time and money on getting blogging right, but in terms of capital costs, the outlay is minimal. In terms of replicating the nuances of market research, the blog also has great strengths. Good consultation processes start with an open engagement phase, where ideas that feed into a draft policy are collected and collated. Throwing ideas out there in the form of blog posts on key themes or areas on which users can comment freely is an excellent method of facilitating this free thinking, especially when the authority joins in the debate through the comments section. Similarly, when it comes to consulting formally on a draft policy, government often struggles to find a manageable method of breaking up weighty policy tomes into manageable chunks. So often in fact, it generally gives up and just puts the whole lot online in the form of massive pdfs. Presenting a policy in sections in the form of different blog posts gets round this problem neatly, and again allows the consulting authority to engage with commenters by asking for clarification on any of the points they raise. The Guardian has recently picked this up well with a consultation on the use of government data (www.freeourdata.org.uk/blog) Two other key elements of good policy consultation lie in providing sufficient background information and context to the process, as well as the feeding back of results of the consultation and actions to be taken as a result of it. These could, at the most simple level, be posted up as new blog posts, but with platforms such as Wordpress providing the option of simple static page creation and document upload alongside the blog itself, consultation


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blogs can turn into microsites, with authorities able to manage their own web pages quickly and simply, often for the first time. Indeed, one recent client commented to me that the backend of Wordpress was far simpler to use than the proprietary website on which they’d spent thousands. Once one starts conceiving of consultation blogs as microsites, opportunities then arise to start integrating different tools into the basic blog structure. One recent site we ran for Connexions West of England (www.goplacesdothings.org) had an online ‘Ideas Tree’ to collect people’s initial ideas, which were then picked up in further detail through a more standard blog format. However, it is in the realm of engagement that blogging as consultation really comes into its own. First of all, blogs can easily be given their own unique URLs to be used in both online and offline promotion campaigns. This obviously has a significant advantage over promoting www.whatchester.gov.uk/democracy/consultation/new_consultation/whatever. Second, blogs allow a public face to be given to a consultation process. At the very least, the person running the process can make themselves public; provide background information on themselves, and other such information as to turn an engagement exercise from a faceless governmental exercise into a more meaningful online conversation. At best, a series of guest bloggers could be brought into a blog based consultation, providing engagement across the board from authority officials to elected politicians, each providing their own take and input into the process. Most important, blogs break down that barrier between ‘the authority’ and ‘the people’. The very essence of a blog is predictated on the notion of interlinkages, and an authority consultation joining the blogsphere opens itself up far more readily to the millions of bloggers and blog readers out there than does a standard online survey.

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As mentioned above, it is often erroneously felt that ‘people round here don’t use the Internet’, and this can lead on to a bigger problem, that to use the Internet is actively to exclude a section or sections of the community. Sure, not everyone is able or will want to use the Internet for getting involved in government, due to issues ranging from finance to disability. But Internet usage is so widespread, and the blogsphere so vast, that not to use it has to all intents and purposes become an exclusionary act in and of itself. So there we have it. Government needs to engage better online in its formal policy setting and consultation process. Blogging can overcome a great many of the issues that have presented barriers to this over the last few years, and, if the world is just, looks set to become an increasingly important tool in so doing. However, whether e-democracy does head in this direction very much remains to be seen. The opportunity is there, it just needs to be recognized. Gez Smith is an e-Democracy Consultant for Delib Ltd. Having previously worked on the National Project for Local e-Democracy at Bristol City Council, he now advises all levels of government across the UK and beyond on engaging, informing and consulting through new technologies.


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Blogging a dead horse Cllr Richard Booth http://richard4wimborne.blogspot.com

The council to which I belong is a glorified pressure group, albeit with limited powers, and an individual councillor works best when assuming the role of a lobbyist. At times the local government system is inadequate, under-funded and met with apathy by local people. So it is through the blogging phenomenon that I hope to draw attention to issues and policies from the standpoint of a journalist, which I find does engage people, but it does so on a more specialised, story-by-story basis. In essence, all politics is so localised that people only really care when you take the time to highlight particular cases – furthermore, in a way that boosts local democracy, you can also be judged on your case-by-case success rate as there is always an accessible record of issues you’ve highlighted and the work you’ve pledged to undertake. Since being elected as a councillor in May 2007, I have come to realise there are two kinds of political blog. There is the one written by a journalist who attempts to highlight issues and add their own commentary, and then there is the blog run by a political figure which is largely partisan and usually quite cavalier with the truth. After all, politicians do like their soapboxes. However, I have tried to straddle that line – despite my concerns that few people were actually galvanised by the local democratic process, I was relieved to see that the blog I set up, aimed directly at residents in Wimborne and East Dorset, was gaining a fair few visitors. Soon, comments and emails started to trickle through as I laid out my manifesto for change. I found that this

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THE TOP 10 RELIGIOUS BLOGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Archbishop Cranmer Faith Central Holy Smoke Jeremy Rosen's Blog Ummah Pulse The Protestant Gazette Auntie Joanna Writes The Difference Thoughts of a Random Ordinand Vindicated

http://www.archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/holysmoke http://www.jeremyrosen.com/blog/ http://www.ummahpulse.co.uk/ http://www.protestant-gazette.blogspot.com/ http://joannabogle.blogspot.com/ http://thedifferencemagazine.blogspot.com/ http://garymcmurray.blogspot.com/ http://captainsacrament.blogspot.com/

All of the above are UK-based blogs, and it is noteworthy that in neither quality nor variety does the British religious blog scene approach the richness of the US. It is not by manipulation, but by a degree of objective analysis, that the list includes blogs from Protestant and Catholic Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. There is nothing of any calibre at all for Sikhs, Hindus or Buddhists. The religion-specific blogs are complemented by the more journalistically generic Times and Telegraph blogs.

contact with residents increased as I included snatches of my own personality, interspersed with concise analysis and meaningful ideas of how to improve the area which I have always called home. I always blog like a schizophrenic – the first post on an issue is from the viewpoint of a journalist, documenting an issue or policy area with reference to past action or residents’ views, then the follow-up post is written with my shiny council hat on. That post is more focused on how I intend to achieve a good result, for what reason, and what other factors could or will come into play. In this way I hope my blog gains credibility as being both dynamic and analytical. Visitors can comment on anything I write and I happily draw criticism or support. At the same time, I am the only councillor in the district – to my knowledge – that blogs, and thus I seem to be contacted by some residents who may not otherwise engage in the local political process. After all, it’s fair to assume that the Facebook generation can work their way around a blog and they know how to fire off a short email with their


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thoughts. I also think it is true to say that this kind of proactive outreach on behalf of blogging councillors and MPs can only increase accountability and ensure that residents know exactly what I am up to at any given time. After all, they elected me to have a voice and to fulfil my campaign commitments – if I don’t, my blog is my own little Hansard, laying out what I did or didn’t do. It can be vindicating but also condemning. I hope residents are satisfied that when I raise their respective causes at council, I also take the time to write about it on my blog. I have already found that the local government process is too slow – implementing change even on the most small of scales can sometimes take weeks or even months – but if I start writing about it on my blog, the local press tend to pick up on it and this extra coverage has so far expedited my efforts. Already I have achieved a couple of substantial successes for residents, and I’d like to think that my publication of these issues has furthered the causes. Since I have to constantly liaise with both Dorset County Council and East Dorset District Council to get things done, and as I know they hate negative publicity, sometimes a well-worded criticism which draws attention to an urgent issue can cause a reversal of fortunes. There are some specific examples of how I think my blog has made a difference. My council has no powers in terms of social housing, but a recent blog post on this matter – which was then picked up by a local county councillor – has resulted in action being taken to help a particular individual. In addition, I have seen how local magazines and newspapers occasionally pick up on my blog posts and turn them into articles or letters. Recently, a blog post I wrote on the erosion of individual liberties caused by the smoking ban ended up in a local community magazine, which in turn produced a raft of letters in

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response and a few dozen more hits for my blog. I’d like to think that some of those who viewed my blog would not have done so otherwise – and in fact, perhaps some of them didn’t even vote in the local elections (turnout was around 43%) – thus I engaged a new audience of people who will, hopefully, continue to read my blog and translate that interest into casting their own vote in 2011. We are living in the era of self-empowerment and a time where most people believe they have the credentials to act as their own media outlets. We certainly have the technology to do so. However, it is vital to retain a sense of perspective. I am under no illusions that, relatively speaking, the readership of my blog is small and those councillors and MPs who do not blog are not necessarily doing less for their people. In fact, some might use the blog to cover up other deficiencies by misleading people’s attention. But, I do think that a lot of people are smart enough to read the difference between a blog that is actually honest and constructive and one that is little more than a party political broadcasting machine, a carbon copy of every other Conservative blog in the country. Since 2005 I have worked with Nick King, first helping his council campaign in Bournemouth and now helping to manage his bid to become Mid Dorset & North Poole’s next MP. He realised the power of the blog long before I did and he’s used it to improve the lifestyles of a lot of people in Dorset by highlighting cases and, amongst other things, running online petitions. In 2006 and 2007, as he knocked on almost every door in his ward, handing out little cards with his name and website address on, the number of hits his blog received soared. Nearly one thousand residents gave him their email addresses, allowing him to now send out a weekly update email to almost a fifth of his ward with the


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click of a mouse button. That’s political accountability and dynamism – and he is a politician who has proven that he actually cares. The blog is a phenomenon that we should all tap into, and as Nick King has shown – and as I hope to emulate – such measures increase your own successes as a local politician, which in turn benefit all of your residents. Accountability is increased dramatically, you become more proactive, the local press can tap into your stories to further your campaigns, residents can get in touch to share their concerns…the list goes on. Anything we can do to strengthen the political process and engage more people in our democracy is a fine thing indeed. With that in mind, I hail the blog as a refreshingly meaningful political tool.

THE TOP 10 ENGLISH BLOGS RANK

BLOG

DOMAIN

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Little Man in a Toque An Englishman’s Castle Campaign for an English Parliament The England Project Speak Out! Gavin Corder Nation of Shopkeepers Wonko’s World PJC Journal Waking Hereward

http://www.toque.co.uk/blog/ http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com http://www.thecep.org.uk/news/ http://www.theenglandproject.net/wordpress/ http://www.speakout.co.uk/blog.aspx http://gavincorder.blogspot.com/ http://nationofshopkeepers.wordpress.com/ http://www.wonkosworld.co.uk/wordpress/ http://thejournal.parker-joseph.co.uk/blog http://wakinghereward.blogspot.com/

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Women and blogging Ellee Seymour http://elleeseymour.com

I’ve been writing my blog for 18 months and I have never had so much fun. I have also discovered that it is not for the faint hearted. Women bloggers still make headline news in a way that their male counterparts don’t. Women bloggers arouse public interest, the inference being that it is a male dominated place. But why is that? I cannot think of any reason why women bloggers should be singled out for special attention. At the end of the day, it is the content and personality behind it that counts – this applies equally to male and female bloggers. Yet it is perceived by some to be a male domain, particularly in the political arena. I suspect the ratio of female bloggers is similar to that of female MPs and councillors, that women are not as politically motivated through personal choice and will link up with sites where they feel comfortable and welcomed. And blogging is most certainly not just a boys’ game, it’s one that the girls can feel equally at ease in. Blogging is known as the “naked conversation”, it’s about being transparent and honest so readers learn about the “real” person. There’s no place to hide if you fake it or fib, your lies will be discovered and word will pass round virally at an astounding pace. Thanks to the ease of free blogging software, women need not be deterred by the technology needed to set up a site. The general rule of thumb is if you can book airline tickets on the Internet, then you should have sufficient expertise to set up and run your own blog.


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For the record, I regard myself, first and foremost, as a blogger. The fact that I have breasts does not, or should not, come into it. I enjoy researching and writing posts and interacting with visitors on news and political issues, as well sharing insights into my personal life and interests. I am fortunate in having regular readers who post genuine comments on wide-ranging subjects, from domestic violence and divorce, to climate change and the EU. Readers have become “virtual” friends, several of whom I have even met, and we exchange emails and Christmas cards. If I appeal for information on my blog, they readily respond and help out and have been a godsend. But I have also had my moments of misery, been targeted by a cyber bully as well as attracting abusive comments from the odd nutter. I’ve also written the odd post I’ve regretted. There is never a stone large enough for you to crawl under in blogosphere. Any insults, humiliation, regrets and taunts are all played out publicly for the world to see. This is what makes it tough for women, why we sometimes need thick skin. It happens to men too, but maybe they can laugh it off in their macho way while women take it more personally. It is not a pleasant experience, but this is when the tribal network and your “virtual” friends come up trumps and rally to your aid, supporting you through what seems to be your worst nightmare. It is crucial that women retain their confidence and humour during these dark days if they seriously enjoy blogging. It’s all part of a steep learning curve and, in my case, they are infrequent enough to forget about. Others though have not been so lucky. Rachel from North London. started a weblog to record her experiences as a July 7 bombing survivor and found herself stalked mercilessly by a woman who was sentenced to six months in jail (appeal pending) for a “vicious, vitriolic and vindictive” harassment cam-

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paign against her. And a highly regarded American blogger, Kathy Sierra (http://headrush.typepad.com) was so shattered following a series of death threats on her site that she stopped writing her blog. I wonder how many women are blogging anonymously, particularly if they feel men will not take them seriously. When Penelope Trunk (http://blog.penelopetrunk.com) writes on Yahoo Finance, she finds inane comments posted every week about her sex life. What I would advise Penelope to do is set out a few ground rules clearly stating that visitors to your site should regarded it as a conversation that is taking place in your living room where swearing and inappropriate comments are not allowed. They should realise that while they are entitled to disagree, they should not do so in an abusive way. However, I believe women bloggers do have the last laugh because they can end up with the great book deals which men do not, to my knowledge. Former Sunday Times journalist Judith O’Reilly cashed in earlier this year with her blog, Wife in the North (http://www.wifeinthenorth.com). She writes poignantly about her move from London to rural Northumberland with three young children, two elderly parents and an absentee husband and it has made her £70,000 richer. A book deal also landed straight into the lap of Catherine Sanderson, whose alter ego is Petite Anglaise, www.petite-


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anglaise.com. The bilingual secretary was fired by an English firm of accountants in Paris on the grounds that her site, though anonymous and never identifying her employers, somehow brought them into disrepute. She not only won her appeal against unfair dismissal, but also a book deal. Zoe Margolis hasn’t looked back since starting her erotic weblog, Girl With A One Track Mind (http://girlwithaonetrackmind.blogspot.com) under the pseudonym Abby Lee. A media frenzy followed when Zoe’s real identity was revealed as an assistant director in the film industry and she was forced into hiding. The danger for me is how addictive and time consuming blogging can be, how it can eat into a large chunk of my day as I am willingly lured from one link to another. This requires a discipline that I have not yet mastered, as my family will confirm by their occasional burnt dinners caused by my need to reply to a comment. For me, there is no doubt that the positives far outweigh the negatives. 99.9% of the people I have “met” in blogosphere I would happily invite into my living room for a real conversation; they are decent, clever people who enjoy an intelligent debate with some light-hearted banter. Blogging is great fun, a constant source of amusement and stimulation, and the day it becomes a chore is the day when I give it up.

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How to use humour in blogs and not come unstuck Kerron Cross VOICE OF THE DELECTABLE LEFT: http://kerroncross.blogspot.com

I’m not sure whether I should be flattered or insulted by being asked to write a section in this book about the use of humour in political blogs. It is fair to say that very few people take my blog seriously – least of all me – but I’m still not sure being the first person that comes to mind when you are looking for someone who epitomises unserious political blogging that this is necessarily ideal either. Personally, if I was going to give one word of advice to someone blogging it would be this: write something you yourself find amusing. Actually that’s six words, but you take my point. I am just fortunate that I find plenty to laugh at in politics. Day to day life in the “Westminster Bubble” is faintly ridiculous – and if you didn’t poke fun at the pomposity of it all, you’d probably end up crying…or smoking a fag out of the window the 11:05am Paddington to Plymouth service. One or the other. I find that personal inspiration for blogging is good. This allows you to develop your own style and narrative. The chances are that people keep coming back to your blog because they are either interested or amused by what you write – or hopefully both. This may seem like an obvious observation, but people do not want to visit 20 blogs which parrot the same political message from on high that only the Tories/Labour/LibDems* (delete as applicable) can win a particular council by-election in Shrewsbury or some


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such due to the local administration implementing a new Controlled Parking Zone around the High Street. Actually, I find it mildly amusing that 20 people would consider blogging such a fact and then seriously expect us all to read it. Don’t get me wrong, randomness from time to time can be good. For example I myself enjoy occasionally blogging such stories about what would happen if they brought back the crossword based quiz show Crosswits with me presenting it or a version of the Crystal Maze with teams of politicians taking part – but perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part. Perhaps I should just get a better agent. (Or just get an agent, come to think of it.) Of course, actual events in politics are often far more entertaining, random and bizarre than you could ever script. I can remember forewarning (in jest) that if Harriet Harman ever became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party she would probably forget that she was Deputy Leader. Sure enough, a few months later, Harriet was duly elected Deputy Leader….and announced to the world that she was the new Leader of the Labour Party! Although the truth is stranger than fiction, life can recreate art. For example how would John Major have felt in the early 90s if Spitting Image had joked he was having an affair with Edwina Currie rather than randomly picking Virginia Bottomley for this make-believe affair? Being happy in your own blogging is crucially important. 99% of people may not find your randomness or observations on life funny, but remember 99% of people visiting your blog will still have to read it – which is something I find funny in a rather perverse way. Another important thing to remember is not to name people in your blog posts if it is likely to get you sued – being taken through the courts for all your money is just not that funny, I’m afraid. You may think that it’s funny to allege that a leading member

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of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is a drug-snorting, orang-utan botherer, but chances are he won’t feel quite so amused with the suggestion. You would be far better off not naming the individual (unless you have proof – in which case I’d argue it’s not really funny, just a bit disgusting), or perhaps ignoring the rumour you’ve been told is a better option. Because remember rumours are not always true. In fact I’d go as far as to say most rumours in politics are not true – many are either wishful thinking, maliciously contrived, or just total cobblers. Or a combination of the above. The best example for a rumour getting someone into trouble recently would be when leading political blogger Recess Monkey exclusively revealed that Margaret Thatcher had died. The one problem was of course that it was an exclusive for the very fact that Margaret Thatcher had not died. This left one very embarrassed monkey the next morning when he woke up to find that a journalist friend had apparently been pulling his leg, just trying to see if he’d take the bait. (Not that Margaret Thatcher dying would be funny in the slightest, you understand. Obviously.) So if your blog is going to run breaking political stories that set the news agenda (i.e. get a couple of column inches in The Independent on Page 14), do check your facts first. You may also want to consider that if you plan to stay working in the political sphere whether it is entirely wise to be poking fun at people you may one day be applying for a job with. Although you may reason that your potential employer may not remember something you wrote a few months earlier about his unusual expense claim – you must also consider that he has access to Google much the same as anyone else. So perhaps blogging under a pseudonym is a better course of action for those looking to climb the political ladder.


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Furthermore if you are writing a humorous blog, do not steal other people’s jokes you have read in the media or on other blogs. Firstly you may get sued (see point above about how unfunny sitting in court wondering whether you still have a house can be) and secondly you will really pee people off. If you must use other people’s jokes then make sure you attribute them to the original source. Most bloggers have a vain streak, meaning that when you stroke their ego and generally draw attention to their genius, they will no doubt write another post linking back to you and increasing your site traffic/comments. Whilst being careful not to steal jokes from the media or other blogs it is fair game to steal jokes from those you come into contact with in your every day life. Consider it a finder’s fee for knowing people funnier than yourself. (Also if they are really your friends, they are unlikely to sue you or have the capacity to expose you.) Finally I should point out that if there is anything that has made you laugh on my blog in the last couple of years, this will undoubtedly be a joke or observation I have borrowed from a friend. The last time I said something funny of my own accord was actually in late 1993 – and even then I only said it by mistake.

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Lasting the pace: why most blogs don't make it Liam Murray CASSILIS: http://www.cassilis.co.uk/blog.html

Announcing his retirement in March 1971, Frank Sinatra bemoaned a career that had “little room or opportunity for reflection, reading, self-examination and that need which every thinking man has for a fallow period, a long pause in which to seek a better understanding of changes occurring in the world”. Quite why an artist of Sinatra’s calibre felt the need to improve his geopolitical awareness and catch-up on some reading remains a mystery but I would dearly like to think similarly noble motives lie behind the little-noticed but almost constant flow of ‘blog resignations’. It is, I fear, far more mundane than that. As mainstream critics never tire of reminding us, the vast majority of political blogs are short-lived affairs that peter out after only a few weeks. And while every blogger will offer up their own explanation for quitting, in truth most blogs die for one of three reasons. By far the most common reason is simple disappointment at the traffic. In a world dominated by a handful of ‘big players’ and a larger number of well known ‘hangers-on’ the political blogosphere is far less democratic and accessible than many of its advocates would suppose. Yes, entry is easy but then so is the notebook under the pillow - and if a blog is to have any functional difference beyond that then some sort of regular and meaningful engagement with readers is a must and that’s where expectations and reality are


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often decoupled. Strangely any overt attachment to or disappointment in traffic numbers is usually frowned upon by other bloggers (usually those with healthy traffic!), the implication being that the medium or process itself has some sort of inherent value. This is unfair since those who genuinely just enjoy the process of recording their thoughts (as opposed to the many who claim that as their motivation) are unlikely to go online in the first place since it doesn’t offer them anything the notebook doesn’t. The very act of publishing a blog then is a call for engagement, a plea for people to respond, challenge and get involved. If that plea isn’t heeded then disappointment inevitably follows. Assuming a blogger does manage to clear that first hurdle and generate a little interest in what he or she has to say, the next thing that often floors us the poor quality of engagement. It’s very rare to read a comment on a blog the amounts to a genuine engagement with the author or a serious attempt to advance an alternative position. Even if we discount the puerile abusive comments which the mainstream blog critics tend to overplay, you’re still left with fairly dull restatements of the original post or blatant attempts to draw attention to the author’s own blog (usually both). In the early days this distinction isn’t particularly important and sheer number of visitors and/or comments are enough to delight the novice blogger. This novelty wears quickly though and it slowly dawns that the almost real time trading of little snippets and jokes (with political friends) or insults and accusations (with opponents) reduces blogging to little more than an off-shoot of the whole social networking phenomenon that doesn’t quite live up to the hype. And then finally, having built a small but loyal readership and provoked some interesting debate we encounter the third difficulty – regular content. Bloggers seem to place a disproportionate value

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on being prolific. A two minute Google trawl on what constitutes a ‘good’ blog will probably offer up something about posting at least every day before it mentions quality or relevance of content. Of course there needn’t be any tension between being prolific and being good (and with the best there isn’t) but how many bloggers with interesting and insightful things to say on a narrow but important range of topics are we losing to this insistence on regular posting? If blogs really do represent the opening up of political discourse and the democratisation of comment then there has to be room for the busy mum who only manages to post once every couple of weeks. The most ridiculous manifestation of this trend is the ‘sorry I’ve been quiet today’ post - the image this conjures up of readers sitting there hitting the refresh button longing for content again blurs the boundaries between blogging and social networking, reducing the blog to little more than a chat room. When we do reach that point of disillusionment however, few of us bother to sign-off in any meaningful way. The site simply hangs there online with the date of their last entry emblazoned along the top as if to tell any hapless reader ‘there’s nothing to bookmark here’. Those who do endeavour to mark their final entry tend to do so via one of those nauseatingly self-absorbed valedictory posts, explaining their original motives and why they’ve decided to pack it in. If they are then conceited enough to leave comments on (and let’s face it most are) what follows is either a resounding online silence and virtual shrug or a steady flow of complimentary comments urging the author to think again. To my shame I went through this very process only to resurface a few weeks later cheered by some kind readers. My second retirement was of the more honourable kind – I just disappeared. So whether it’s a lack of readers & comments, the poor quality of the debate or the difficulty of feeding the ever ravenous content


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beast, us quitters will probably outnumber those who keep at it for some time to come. I take my hat of to those who last the pace and wish them well – hopefully as the medium matures it will find room for those of us who have neither the stamina, contacts nor talent to succeed in today’s blogosphere. There is however one aspect of Frank’s 1971 resignation that is mirrored in the blog world - it was short-lived. Having been a lifelong liberal Sinatra’s politics shifted to the right during his retirement and by spring 1973 he was back on stage in Nixon’s White House, performing at a gala dinner held for Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. So perhaps nothing is final - I have this idea for a sort of ‘bloggers graveyard’, a blog built around all the stroppy sign-offs, smug valedictory posts and random final comments that give no indication of the silence to come. Then again, I probably wouldn’t get any readers...

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Political podcasting: yesterday’s news or the next big thing? Jonathan Sheppard TORY RADIO: www.toryradio.com

Some time ago I asked a friend why hadn’t anyone set up a podcast that focused on UK politics – and in particular what was going on in the Conservative Party. The number of people walking around with their MP3 player in their ears, or sitting on the tube with their Ipod on, suggested to me that there could be a niche for a political podcast. It was politely put to me that if I was so keen, why didn’t I do something myself. After buying every book on podcasting I could find, I digested all the information and took the leap by registering a domain name. From that moment Tory Radio was born - a political podcast which as the name suggests concentrates on the Conservative Party, but is wholly independent of it. We essentially conduct interviews with key people in the political arena, and our independence means we can cover the topics we want to talk about. Since it’s inception, our bandwidth, (the amount of podcast downloads) has seen an average increase of 50% every month which goes to show the popularity of the podcast format for political interviews. Whereas political blogging seems to be well established with the likes of Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes being household names even outside of the Westminster village, podcasting hasn’t yet taken off in the same way. However the next twelve months could see the Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2007–8

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situation change dramatically. Members of Parliament are always looking at ways to get their message out to the electorate without it being carved up by the mainstream media who just want a soundbite. What better way than to start podcasting? The mainstream media are now paying serious attention to bloggers and podcasters alike. On the back of the Tory Radio podcast I have appeared on Sky News on numerous occasions, the Today Programme on Radio 4, and on The Politics Show. Stories which “broke” on Tory Radio have been covered in just about every national newspaper. Far from seeing podcasting as a threat, the mainstream media are more than happy to run with a story even if it’s been “broadcast” in a podcast first. Francis Maude’s “Mincing Metrosexual” comment and Lord Tebbit’s revelation that he would back a “hug a hoodie” approach both came from Tory Radio interviews, before gaining further press coverage on the BBC and in the national press. Why should politicians regard podcasting as an opportunity as opposed to going to the papers or TV? I explained that point to John Hess, the editor of The Politics Show for the East Midlands when he filmed Tory Radio in action. The film he shot would have to be taken back to the studio, edited and pieced together, and then it would appear on a pre-scheduled slot at the weekend. The podcast of the very same interview was edited and uploaded onto Tory Radio in under an hour, available on demand to any listener worldwide – not just in the East Midlands of England. Podcasting has the ability to allow politicians, campaigners, or the ordinary ‘man on the street’ to get their story out to who they want, and equally important WHEN they want, which is a very attractive proposition. Furthermore, one only has to look at

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America to see how podcasting is used in campaigning. Come an election, a podcast is a very cost effective way for candidates to get their message onto a website and out in the public domain very quickly, something that is surely attractive to candidates, MPs and political parties alike. The beauty of the podcast is that it makes things easy for the listener. They can listen to it when THEY want to, not when you want them to. It’s available on demand. At the moment there aren’t that many political podcasts in existence in the UK. E-politix have started to use the medium, and of course there is the excellent Paul Linford a former lobby journalist who produces a “Week in Politics” podcast and blogs at http://paullinford.blogspot.com/ which is always worth checking out, plus the excellent Daily Telegraph podcast, which focuses on the days news. But surely video is the way forward I hear you say. Well yes, some have hailed the success of Youtube, video podcasts and the 18 Doughty Street online TV station as the death knell for anything audio, but that just isn’t true. Talk Radio is huge in the States which shows just how powerful a medium audio can be. The benefit of getting into podcasting is that it only takes one person with a recorder and access to a computer and you are on your way. No need for lighting. No need for a camera man. The effect on politics could be huge. No longer can a candidate get


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away with saying one thing in a public meeting – and saying something else elsewhere. Who knows whether there will be a podcaster in the audience. These days there is the potential for anyone to be a “citizen journalist”. For a candidate however, there are huge opportunities with podcasting. You can record whatever you want to say without it being edited before consumption. In effect you are cutting out the middle man. With a pre recorded radio interview the power is with the broadcaster who can choose the soundbite they want to use. Producing your own podcast means you can get your message out in full to the people you want to hear it. Yes the media can still take a soundbite, but you will know your full message has been published for those who want it. If you are seriously considering including podcasting as part of your online presence here are a few tips to get you on your way. Invest i n a qua li ty MP3 recorder – it will pay dividends in the long run. No one wants to listen to something that sounds like you’ve recorded it in a cave. Ma rket your podca st – you can have the best interview or story in the world, but if no one knows about it, no one will ever hear it. You will need to have a blog and an RSS feed as a minimum. P la n your podca st – don’t attempt to just start talking as it won’t work. If you are doing an interview have a list of questions you want to ask, but be flexible. If you get into an area that’s interesting keep going. Don’t bore – If you don’t sound interested your listeners wont be interested. A good podcast may only run 5 minutes. Don’t try to drag it out for half an hour if you’ve got nothing to say. Ma ke it i nter a ctive – Give listeners the opportunity to pose questions or give feedback – that way they will feel involved and will come back time and time again. 116

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Find your niche – the best blogs succeed because they have a niche. You go to Guido for gossip. Iain Dale has the scoops. ConservativeHome gives you the low down on what’s going on in Conservative politics. Decide what the niche of your podcast will be. To those who think audio has had its day, I say it’s certainly alive and kicking, and political podcasting could make a real impact in the run up to the next General Election. TOP UKIP BLOGS Trying to find UKIP blogs is quite difficult; many of the best bloggers, whilst sympathetic to UKIP, are often unwilling to openly align themselves with a party which they often view as either incompetent or loony. However, slowly UKIP is starting to find a presence on the web. 1

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EU Referendum http://eureferendum.blogspot.com Whilst Richard and Helen may be outraged at being described as UKIP (although Dr Richard North did work for the party at one point), they really cannot be missed out when compiling any anti-EU list. Plus, of course, their EUsceptic stance and strong defence policy aims make them broadly sympathetic with UKIP's central policies. The Devil's Kitchen http://devilskitchen.me.uk Arrogant? Possibly. However, I received so many nominations for myself that I can hardly ignore the masses, eh? England Expects http://englandexpects.blogspot.com One of the very few blogs in which the quality of the information – Elaib works in the EU Parliament – allows one to ignore the frequent syntactical errors. Curious Snippets From A Cynical Optimist http://vindicovindico.blogspot.com Vindico is one of the rising stars of UKIP – a staunch libertarian with a brain the size of a house. Quite simply a brilliant read. Is There More To Life Than Shoes http://more-to-life-than-shoes.blogspot.com Acerbic writing from another UKIP employee. The Purple Scorpion http://thepurplescorpion.blogspot.com UKIPper and very much a friend of EU Referendum, TPS is informative and committed. John Trenchard http://johntrenchard.blogspot.com A relatively new blogger, John Trenchard has already established himself as an astute commenter and an engaging commenter.) Mark Wadsworth http://markwadsworth.blogspot.com A tax accountant and UKIPper, Mark is particularly interested in the Citizens Basic Income and in land rent tax. Neuearbeit Macht Frei http://neuearbeitmachtfrei.blogspot.com Although not technically UKIP (which is why he appears so low on this list), Roger Thornhill is very much a sympathiser, and has, quite simply, one of the most intelligent and readable blogs on the 'net.) Nobody's Friend http://nobodysfriend.blogspot.com A good blogger, and more diverse than the others dealing, as he does, with snippets of personal interest as well as politics. COMPILED BY CHRIS MOUNSEY


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My first year of blogging Nich Starling NORFOLK BLOGGER: http://norfolkblogger.blogspot.com

I started blogging last year at just about the time I decided to give up front line politics. For me, politics had been a way of expressing myself and I needed something that was going to replace that. Early on I decided that although my own personal politics were going to come through in the blog, I still wanted it to be a warts and all thing. I wanted to print the good and bad about my own party as well. I think this has helped me gain credibility and not just be seen as a mouthpiece of the Liberal Democrats. Indeed, some of the most scathing attacks on me have been from LibDems and some of the most supportive from Tories, so I must have achieved something of what I wanted. Having decided on a style, and written a few posts, the next thing was to get people reading my blog. In the first instance registering with www.technorati.com was vital. Although it does not get you lots of readers, it does let people know you are out there and allows you to be found. The next thing was also to start tracking how many people were reading my blog and to see what they were reading. Using Google analytics and mybloglog were important in this area. So, then I was up and rolling. My first surprise was when I actually started getting comments to my blog. People were actually reading what I had to say and some were interested. Very quickly I was getting ten people a day reading my blog. By linking to other blogs I liked and commenting on what others had to say, I started

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TOP 10 NEWCOMERS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Platform 10 Conor Ryan Matt Wardman Mike Rouse Grendel The Huntsman Liberty's Requiem John Redwood MP Libertarian UK Cornerstone

http://www.platform10.org http://conorfryan.blogspot.com http://www.mattwardman.com/blog http://www.mikerouse.net http://grendel-grendel.blogspot.com http://thehuntsman2007.blogspot.com http://libertysrequiem.blogspot.com http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com http://www.libertarianuk.net http://cornerstonegroup.wordpress.com

to develop my blogroll (a list of other blogs that I liked and that were prepared to link to me) and I again saw a rise in numbers, swiftly getting up to 50 hits a day, then nearly up to 100. It was interesting for me to note using the tracking tools that a posting I had thought was a work of genius was perhaps getting only five views a day whilst something rather glib written in 30 seconds would get 20 hits. From this I felt I was starting to get to know my readers so I learnt to mix and match short and long pieces on my blog. The first real set back I had was after about three months. I think everyone involved in politics blogging thinks they are going to be the next Iain Dale’s Diary. Whilst your reader numbers start to rise, you feel you are on a roll. But when they peak and drop off you wonder if you really ought to give up so much time to blogging. I have seen too many good blogs fall by the wayside in the last year because they haven’t changed the world in three months. Persistence and getting through the dips in readers and the bloggers block (like writers block) is vital. After a lull, reader numbers started to pick up again and you realise that you have somehow altered the way you think about things. You are always looking for an angle on a story, you look for


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the funny photo, you write down something that has annoyed you because you think “I’ll blog about that”. I am lucky in that I am a natural ranter. I’ve always come over as a cross between Victor Meldrew and Basil Fawlty, obsessed sometimes and exasperated often. So I have learnt to let off my steam and anger through my blog. Don’t be afraid to do this too. People like to see a human side to a blogger. As the year went on I started trying different things with my blog. I learnt how to add YouTube video clips, I started creating some graphics of my own, I even learnt how to alter my blogging template so that it looked a bit more exciting. Would I recommend doing this at the start ? No. But the thing with blogging is that there are always new tools coming out to add to your blog and the best thing to do is to learn them gradually. Perhaps the most interesting thing for me is the number of contacts I have made and the acquaintances I now have through people linking to me, commenting on what I have written and writing about me and my blog. It is difficult for some people, particularly politicians, to mix easily with people who disagree with them. Blogging breaks down those barriers. Bloggers who rant and are rude about people of other political persuasions might have a core readership, but they preach to the converted and turn people off. I’ve learnt to be more tolerant and think it has made me a more reasonable person too. At least two blogs on my blogroll wrote blistering attacks on something I had written. I logged on to those blogs and added a comment to their attacks and they responded back in a really positive way. It is very easy to be very attacking to begin with, but taking the time to write a thoughtful response will gain you credit and credibility. Those two blogs still disagree with me, but they do so in a measured and fairer way and I do the same to them.

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And finally, remember that everyone can read your blog. It is always interesting for me to note how my mother reads my blog and she feels it is a good way to keep in touch with me. When I had a bad back, when I was off work, when I got a new car, she knew about these things before I phoned her because she read them on my blog. So my advice to anyone wanting to start a blog is do so, but don'texpect to change the face of blogging in three months, accept that you have good weeks and bad weeks, develop a style, be consistent and follow the etiquette of blogging. Nearly one year on and I still have days when I cannot think what to wrote about. I still have good weeks and bad weeks in terms of readers clicking to read what I say and I still get idiot comments from people, but it does not matter. I like the fact that people react to what I say and that some people agree with me too. But one note of caution, blogging can take you over. Do set a limit, don’t do it for more than an hour a day and remember to live your real life as well as blogging really is bizarrely addictive and compelling.


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Mainstream Labour should do more blogging Conor Ryan CONOR'S COMMENTARY: http://conorfryan.blogspot.com

As a precocious student in the pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland of the early 1980s, I used to indulge myself and doubtless bore readers of the Irish Times with thousand-word letters on subjects from the duplicity of the Militant Tendency to the censorship of Godard films. I doubt today’s Irish Times would be quite so generous. To some, the blogosphere seems to offer a similar facility. It may not, therefore, be all that surprising that I have recently started to blog. I have written quite a lot on education and Irish politics for the national press, and plan to continue doing so. And I played a role in the development and implementation of Labour education policy as an adviser to both David Blunkett and Tony Blair over the years of opposition and government. So I haven’t exactly been short of opportunities to have my views heard. But a blog is a far stronger personal statement than any article or ministerial minute. It allows you, with incredible ease, to communicate with friends and family, and a hopefully wider audience in an instant, passing on views and ideas without filters. For me, it is a chance to respond more productively when I hear or read something I know to be wrong or incomplete. Moreover, I have chosen to use my blog to pass on travel notes – having contributed to TripAdvisor for some time, which is an increasingly good source of advice for hotels beyond the obvious – and book or arts reviews.

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Blogging is now an increasingly important part of the political landscape. And mainstream Labour should recognise its potential, ensuring that left blogging isn’t left to the far left, for whom its inexpensive nature is a godsend (though it does make redundant the ubiquitous and charmless Trotskyite newspaper sellers who made politics so joyful in the ‘eighties). Blogging is more important in the Conservative Party, for example in harnessing grassroots opposition to David Willetts over grammar school policy. ConservativeHome is a lively daily news digest with a rapid readers ‘response. Bloggers like Iain Dale, Ben Brogan of the Mail and the sometimes funny, often poisonous Guido Fawkes have dominated the blogosphere. The sharpest TV political pundits, Nick Robinson and Adam Boulton produce lively blogs. The mainstream left has not been blog-free. David Miliband ran a blog while environment secretary. The Labour whip, Tom Watson, produces a pithy, regularly updated blog. But others, like the universities secretary, John Denham, stopped blogging once they gained office under Gordon Brown. Bloggers4Labour reports over 500 blogs, but many are official MPs’ sites and a lot do not appear to have been regularly updated. Partly to see off ConservativeHome, the Labour researcher Alex Hilton, who created the Westminster researchers’ site Recess Monkey, started LabourHome. Yet while it is updated daily, it still seems to lack the immediacy of its Conservative namesake, and sometime feels even more insular. Labour’s deputy leadership contenders tried valiantly to produce blogs, though none really succeeded. The best blogger, dare I say it, was John McDonnell, the would-be left-wing challenger to Gordon Brown, though it was hardly mainstream Labour. Brown’s own blog had a few musings by the ex-MP Oona King,


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and little else. There was also a short-lived attempt by Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn to use a ‘2020 vision’ website to debate the ‘progressive century’. What might have been a genuinely progressive Labour blog died after the publicity rush. There are some good lasting blogs. Oliver Kamm, a Blairite war supporter, produces long, closely argued and well-sourced posts often rehearsing his Atlanticist views. Kamm’s liberal interventionist views are shared at Harry’s Place and the Euston Manifesto blog. Adrian McMenamin, a former Labour spinner, often has interesting observations on politics on both sides of the Irish Sea. Hackney councillor Luke Akehurst speaks for the pro-government activist. The journal Progress produces good policy blog, and Neil Lawson’s pressure group Compass provides a lively soft left forum for debate. Both use their blogs to communicate with strong supporters’ groups. But there is no great fervour of blogging on the mainstream left. Why is this? In part, it can be harder to defend government than to attack it. But a blog can be constructively critical – after all, many Tory blogs debate internal issues (perhaps even too feverishly for the leadership). It is also true that the malicious recycling of police gossip in the cash-for-honours saga by some bloggers hardly endeared many in Labour to the art. And, the intemperate comments on the Guardian’s Comment is Free website have (not unreasonably) attracted disdain from the paper’s star columnists, including Polly Toynbee. Too many see blogging as the new century’s version of Talk Radio. But blogging need not just be a negative force for the left. It is true that the Daily Kos and Huffington Post can seem to be pushing the Democrat debate leftwards in the US, but they are as big as any right-wing blogs. And Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner in the US Presidential elections, uses a team blog to

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enthuse, enlist and inform supporters - it has been an important part of her fundraising efforts. Both Barack Obama and John Edwards have similar efforts. Though she didn’t win, Segolene Royal’s prodigious blogs in France helped her gain rather more support than was expected for the Socialist candidate. Mainstream Labour must seize the potential of blogging. More MPs should use it to communicate with their local parties and constituents – and combined with targeted emailing, to do so more cost effectively than printed newsletters (though it won’t replace door-to-door canvassing yet). Nationally, ministers from the Prime Minister down need to see the potential for real engagement that blogging can offer. Labour nationally should facilitate (though not run) stronger online forums for debate. Ahead of the next election, blogging needs to become an integral part of the mainstream left’s armoury.

Conor Ryan was political adviser to David Blunkett 1993-2001 and senior education adviser to Tony Blair from 2005-2007. His blog is at http://conorfryan.blogspot.com. CENTRE LEFT LINKS REFERRED TO Luke Akehurst http://lukeakehurst.blogspot.com/ Adrian McMenamin http://newgolddream.dyndns.info/blog/ Bloggers4Labour http://bloggers4labour.org/ Oliver Kamm http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/ Harry’s Place http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/ Euston Manifesto http://eustonmanifesto.org/ Progress http://www.progressonline.org.uk/ Compass http://www.compassonline.org.uk/ Recess Monkey http://www.recessmonkey.com/ Labour Home http://www.labourhome.org/


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The dangers of blogging Rachel North RACHEL FROM NORTH LONDON: http://rachelnorthlondon.blogspot.com

Blogging can be addictive. Hours spent crunched over a keyboard polishing your latest post or perusing the thoughts of your friends, exes and enemies can play havoc with your good intentions to go to the gym, and lead to irritated inquiries from members of your household about quite what’s going on in there as you rattle away on your keyboard. But blogging can also be dangerous to your career, as a Scottish blogger at a certain book store who referred to his employer as ‘Evil Boss’ at ‘Bastardstones’ discovered. The curse of ‘doocing’ – losing your job because of your online activity – after dooce.com, the site of a US blogger who was fired after writing satirical journal of life at a dotcom start-up - also afflicted blogger Petite Anglaise. Fortunately she won her employment tribunal case after admitting blogging on the job as a secretary in France – and went on to score a book deal. Sadly, the lines of bloggers fired for sounding off are far longer than those brandishing lucrative publishing contracts, and with employers taking to ‘googling ‘to find out the dirt on interviewees and staff, that expletive-packed drunken essay about your boss’s tight-fistedness, or your prolific blog post count after 4pm on weekdays - can all come back to haunt you. Identity thieves will rifle through bins to hunt for information which can help them ransack your savings account or clone your credit card, and by blogging personal information about yourself, such as your birthday on 24th May being spoiled by a letter from

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your bank manager asking you to come in and see him at Barclays Bath Square branch, you can inadvertently invite a heap of trouble. Similarly, posting that the new curtains at 32 Acacia Avenue are the envy of the neighbours, and that you hope your spouse likes the expensive painting you’ve hidden in the wardrobe for when you’re back from your New Years cruise, means any robber with internet access can slip round and help himself secure in the knowledge that you won’t walk in to find him bagging the swag. Bemoaning how your boyfriend is working late all week and you’re home alone with pizza and Pinot Grigio can be dangerous. Even more creepily, posting photos of your romping tots in the paddling pool, or your apple-cheeked daughter in her school uniform can entice out the pervs. Just putting your own photos online can invite unwanted attention. Even if they are just of your prize-winning plums. Or any of your allotment booty. Passwordprotected blogs for sharing personal, family stuff can be wise. Ah ha, I shall remain safely anonymous, you decide. Then I can write about whatever I want, spilling the beans on my exotic sex life, giving full expression to my fascination with the songs of Julie Andrews, or lambasting real ale drinkers with the venom I feel they deserve. Not so fast! The internet is a Wild West populated not only by kind, attractive, intelligent people like yourself, but also with creeps, losers, and trolls. If you come into the radar of a determined troll - which is quite likely if you write passionately, prolifically, politically or become wildly popular ( in the way that can happen overnight sometimes when bloggers go into a linking feeding frenzy over a post) – you may find yourself the target of anonymous abuse, mind games and bullying, which may include attempts to trace your identity. Delete, ignore, and obey the internet law: don’t feed trolls - ever. Generally they will get bored and move on quickly, but if anonymous comments on your blog are


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becoming bothersome, blogs offer you the option to moderate and reject comments - or allow only people who have registered to comment. This seems to deter most internet windup merchants, who tend to rejoice in the anonymity of the coward when popping by to try to annoy a complete stranger. (It’s an odd hobby to indulge in, but nobody ever said the internet wasn’t a haven for the psychologically-changed.) However, when a personality disorder meets a broadband connection, you can have a real problem, as I found to my cost when I was the subject of an intensive hate 14-month campaign from a vindictive and vitriolic harasser. Requests to stop, followed by ignoring, made no difference, as every weapon in the cyberstalker’s arsenal was deployed to try to attack me psychologically and professionally. Hundreds of hate blog posts, relentless venomous email bombardments at home and at work, threats, abuse, and false complaints to Thames Valley police and my employer meant I had no option but to go to the police myself in the end. Under the 1997 Protection for Harassment Act, online harassment of this nature is treated exactly the same as abusive phone calls or dog poo through the letterbox. My stalker was warned by police, arrested several times, bailed and eventually went on the run after being convicted of harassment in absentia , having failed to show at court after breaching her bail conditions. She - for

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bizarrely it was a flowery-skirted obsessive lady blogger, not a swivel -eyed unshaven male villain - was eventually tracked down and captured in a cyber cafe by police after a tip-off. The tip off came from an alert internet user following an international ‘Wanted! ‘blog-button campaign by concerned bloggers who were outraged at her antics, and aware of her history of harassment which had left dozens of traumatised and furious victims worldwide. She was jailed for six months – the maximum sentence, given a restraining order and criminal ASBO – proving conclusively that ‘it’s only the internet’ doesn’t wash as an excuse much these days. So, caveat blogger – but remember that there’s far more good guys than bad guys out there, and with a bit of common sense you can join the 73 million bloggers worldwide and stake your claim in the global communications revolution. With 1.5 million posts published every day, you’re bound to find someone who thinks you’re great.


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The state of the Welsh blogosphere Ciaran Jenkins The Blogger formerly known as BLAMERBELL BRIEFS

The National Assembly election of May 2007 will be forever associated with the rise of political blogging in Wales. If the politics was at times less than spectacular, the online commentary that followed its every twist and turn more than compensated. A quite unique period in modern Welsh history saw protracted coalition negotiations involving, at some stage, each major party. And as they plotted, schemed and stabbed each other in the back, blogs took on great significance as watchers and news providers. Political blogging thrives in Wales for the same reason Feather Duster Monthly still has a dedicated readership: for those who are interested in such things, the mainstream press is simply too quiet. Our little country only really has one and a half national newspapers and despite some exquisite journalism on the coalition shenanigans they could never really say all that needed to be said. The BBC was also valiant in its political coverage, but without 24hour blanket news coverage there would always be huge gaps for the bloggers to colonise. And they did. In part, circumstances favoured the bloggers. I can’t emphasise quite how much the Welsh political plot got lost for a while in the wilderness of mid-Wales. For a few weeks it seemed the dynamics were constantly shifting. And just when the balance seemed to finally tip in favour of a deal between Plaid, the Conservatives and the LibDems, the whole thing was turned on its head by a

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TOP TWENTY WELSH BLOGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Normal Mouth Glyn Davies Valleys Mam Peter Black AM Paul Flynn MP Dylan Jones-Evans Miserable Old Fart Guerilla Welsh-fare GWEh Vaughan Roderick David Cornock Ceredig Cascittuni Wales World Nation Linguanaut Bethan Jenkins Homage to Catatonia Betsan Powys Nick Bourne AM Leighton Andrews AM

http://normalmouth.blogspot.com http://glyndaviesam.blogspot.com http://merchmerthyr.blogspot.com http://peterblack.blogspot.com http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/my_weblog http://www.dylanje.blogspot.com http://miserableoldfart.blogspot.com http://guerrilla-welsh-fare.blogspot.com http://g-w-e.blogspot.com http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/vaughanroderick http://davidcornock.blogspot.com http://ceredig.blogspot.com http://cascittuni.blogspot.com http://walesworldnation.welshblogs.co.uk http://saiminu.blogspot.com http://bethanjenkins.blogspot.com http://homage-to-catatonia.blogspot.com http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/betsanpowys http://blog.nickbourne.org.uk http://www.leightonandrews.com

TOP TEN PLAID CYMRU BLOGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ordovicius Miserable Old Fart Gwe Guerrilla Welsh-Fare Adam Price MP Wales World Nation View From the Glen Bethan Jenkins AM Brit Nationalists In Wales Watch Welsh Independence

http://this-is-sparta.blogspot.com/ http://miserableoldfart.blogspot.com http://g-w-e.blogspot.com http://guerrilla-welsh-fare.blogspot.com http://www.adamprice.org.uk/blog http://walesworldnation.welshblogs.co.uk http://cwmview.blogspot.com http://bethanjenkins.blogspot.com http://british-nats-watch.blogspot.com http://independent-wales.blogspot.com

COMPILED BY SANDDEF RHYFERYS OF THE ORDOVICIUS BLOG

LibDem executive meeting deep into the night in Llandrindod Wells. Prior to that, the triple alliance had seemed a shoo in and even the Times went big on ‘Rainbow Coalition to rule Wales’. Alas, by the time of publication the Welsh LibDems had conspired to make this terribly out of date and it was left to the blogs to pick up the pieces.


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The reason I have been asked to tell you this is the same reason my face peppered Wales’ various current affairs programmes in the past year: whether through fortune or hard graft I somehow became unofficial spokesman for the Welsh blogosphere with my blog Blamerbell Briefs. At its peak the blog reached thousands of readers each day and eventually won the inaugural CNN European blog award. At the prize ceremony in Paris a giant screen grab of my blog stung the eyes of the assembled audience. They were staring at a larger than life sized picture of North Wales Assembly Member Carl Sargeant and made no effort to conceal their collective bemusement. That just about sums up the state of Welsh political blogging. The personalities may not be well known – in Wales, let alone France – but the dedicated audience who need and want to be kept up to date is not to be sniffed at. Barely a quarter of the Welsh electorate bothered to vote for devolution ten years ago, but that doesn’t make them any less important in shaping our recent history. The readers of blogs are potentially an influential bunch, something the brighter members of the political class now seem to have realised. I’ll start this roundup, therefore, with a look back at the election period and at the movers and shakers and downright stirrers of the Welsh blogosphere, king of which for a time was the Arsembly blog. Disgruntled and apparently cheesed off with the inept world of Welsh politics, Arsembly was the self-proclaimed Guido Fawkes of Wales. It was bitchy, rude and caused a few ripples in the establishment. It was, perhaps, the blogging equivalent of farting in the Welsh political bath. And yet in real terms it only ever succeeded in pulling the plug on one political destiny: its own. Maybe it was because expectations were too high or because people had tired of its endless self-promotion; either way, after a damp squib of an election night Arsembly finally went down the drain.

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But the election period was probably more notable for its arrivals than for its departures – none more so than Vaughan Roderick, veteran Welsh Affairs Editor at BBC Wales. Vaughan ‘gets’ blogging, and so when news comes his way he doesn’t think twice about blogging it. Consequently, his blog was often the first with the detail in this turbulent period – leaked coalition documents, cabinet rumours etc. – and is required reading for anyone wishing to give Welsh politics more than a cursory glance. Unfortunately, it will take more than a cursory glance to decode it if you’re not a Welsh speaker. Still, Ordovicius often provides helpful translations. And that’s not the end of Ordovicius’ talents. Run by reformed busker and overgrown student Sanddef Rhyferys, the Ordovicius blog oozes nerdiness. His edgy nationalism, however, is not without bite. Whereas such prejudice might be tossed aside in other political circles, in Wales the blogging politicians get stuck in and usually give better than they get. Consequently, such characters as Sanddef find themselves engaged in an online battle with political big boys like Adam Price MP, a man who is never afraid to take an argument head on. Mr Price has been a blogging revelation of late. After the rainbow coalition broke down, his post on the historic logic of a Labour-Plaid pact arguably gave the process renewed momentum. Within the Plaid ranks he is not alone in setting the tone with blog entries either; Bethan Jenkins AM and to a lesser extent Jill Evans MEP have learned these lessons too. Over on the Labour side, look no further than Leighton Andrews AM. He sees his blog in much the same way that Charles Foster Kane saw his newspapers, but he’s a formidable communicator nonetheless. Mr Andrews only blogs when he has something to say or something to gain. Put it in a feed and handle with care.


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One man who blogs regardless of whether he has something to gain is Glyn Davies. Deposed as a Tory AM at the election, expect Mr Davies’ blog to become increasingly preoccupied with the Cheeky Girls. That’s because he is fighting Lembit Opik’s Montgomeryshire seat at the next general election. This blog is refreshingly honest and well-written. At times it is perhaps too honest, but Mr Davies has somehow persuaded everyone that he is most endearing when he is off-message. Another AM frequently off-message is Peter Black. One of just six Liberal Democrats in the Assembly, his blog became the focus of attention when he spoke out against the party leadership just hours after another indifferent election result. His colleagues were fuming, but Mr Black was unperturbed and remains the assembly’s longest serving blogger. By new, you should be getting the hang of Welsh politics: we may have small fish, but in blogging we have an ample supply of willing fryers. There are simply too many to note, though you could do worse than a quick scroll through the following: Valleys Mam for heaps of passion and a rare female voice; Normal Mouth for long words and lefty analysis and Miserable Old Fart for Welsh nationalism with a kick. Welsh political blogging, much like the process of devolution itself, is still in its infancy. Or perhaps its adolescence. I’ve now left the scene, but new blogs are emerging all the time and with a Labour-Plaid coalition government to contend with, they won’t be short of material.

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The train leaving at Platform 10 Fiona Melville PLATFORM 10: www.platform10.org

I’ll admit – I was worried what to say when I was asked to write this contribution. What could I (one of a group of ten bloggers of a mere three weeks’ standing) possibly have to say that hasn’t already been said by the luminaries of political blogging? But then I realised – that’s the point of political blogging. Presumably of blogging generally. You can say what YOU feel and believe, in the way that YOU feel and believe it. If people like it, great, you become known and read and respected. If they don’t – well, you tried, and you said what you had to say, and maybe in ten years someone will stumble across your efforts and nod along. I can hear you wondering, who are these three week old upstarts? Why should I care? Well, we’re a group of young(ish – under 40 anyway) Conservatives. Most of us met working on or around the Cameron campaign in 2005. Most of us have, at some point or another, passed through the doors of Parliament, Smith Square or Victoria St. A few of us have been candidates. We’re all pretty different, though the thing that brings us all together is enthusiasm for the way that David Cameron is leading the Conservatives. Obviously this isn’t a campaign document for the Tories. Nor is it a promo for our site (though do visit platform10.org if you have time). Enthusiasm is what shines through with all the blogs I read, whether political or not. You can hear Guido cackling with


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delight as he unmasks yet another SpAd misbehaving. You can see Iain Dale sticking the knife in, so quietly but so effectively. You can feel Tim Montgomerie’s passion for his causes. You can see the steam issuing from Dizzy’s ears sometimes. So why did we need to set up yet another centre-right blog? First of all, we’re hoping to be more than a blog (but that’s for another day and does depend on how this first stage goes!) But, as so many of the other contributors to this book have noted, the centre-right is where the centre of gravity of political blogging sits. I think there are two reasons for this – the centre-right has always been where the really radical, successful, nation-improving ideas have come from. So we have ideas, enthusiasm and the capacity for innovation. And secondly, because we’re in opposition, we’ve got the chance to make the case for our cause. The left doesn’t have that freedom; they hit on an election-winning formula (much of which seems to be, depressingly, don’t let the Tories win again) which was entirely dependent on ruthless discipline and they don’t have the freedom to open up and have a mature debate. Our aim is, of course, political – to convince people of the case for David Cameron’s Conservative Party (that’s shorthand by the way – we’re not so blinded by adoration that we think the party name should change!) When I worked for the party, one of the things I did was to go out and evangelise about us (it had a fancy job title, but that was what I actually did!). I loved it – making the case, having a proper argument sometimes, persuading people who thought that David was some pinko/Communist/vacuum that he had, to quote John Prescott, ‘traditional values in a modern setting’. So Platform 10 is a great way for us to make the case for the much-needed changes in the Party and the policies we will put forward in our manifesto. We describe ourselves as modern,

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liberal Conservatives, and we are convinced that the way to win for the Tories is to remain centrist, liberal, forward-looking and to really make the case for what we believe. I won’t bore you with the arguments, but we as a party made a big decision when we elected David. It was never going to be plain sailing all the way. There will be people who don’t like what we’re doing. There will be times when it all looks awful. There will be times when we’re riding high in the polls, and times when we don’t do so well. But what we need to achieve is a clear, straightforward and positive manifesto, which we at Platform 10 hope to help shape in a modern, liberal Conservative way. It’s taken a surprising amount of unseen effort – we all work, we’re volunteers, and it’s hard getting ten busy people together to talk over what we’re going to do. We send a lot of emails (so many that one of our number has, in horror, set up a .mac group which we’re still coming to grips with). It’s fascinating to read opinions from people you thought you knew really well and discover something totally new about them. We don’t ever all agree on something – at our first meeting we had a very involved two hours on inheritance tax. Which we still haven’t resolved. Being a Conservative means that there is no great ‘ism’ – we’re a flexible, adaptable party and that means making the case to suit every generation. Blogging is just one of so many ways to make that case and reach out. I find it much chattier and more personal than newspaper articles. It’s much faster (though so easy to press submit with horrendous slurs and mistakes in a post). It makes it easier to talk directly to people – except when they don’t want to hear. I still find talking to someone, with facial expressions and feedback from them, far easier than writing my case down but I hope I’m learning. The big challenge for us is that readers who are content with the modernising agenda aren’t the ones who stand up and argue – they


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just get on with things, knowing that the party is moving in the direction they want. So we’re prepared to have some of the less happy people posting on our blog, and we want to make the case to them and persuade them that being a modern, liberal Conservative party is the only way to ensure a Conservative government.

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The blogging candidate Tracey Crouch http://blog.traceycrouch.org

When I was being interviewed by Chatham & Aylesford Conservative Association to become their Parliamentary Candidate, I said I was quite sceptical about “blogging”; that I believed it to not necessarily be an essential part of a candidate’s campaign activities; they could be dangerous and many a posting could be regretted and that whilst I was not going to rule one out I was not planning on getting one either. In hindsight, it was probably quite a brave answer especially since the one or two eyebrows raised around the Committee were because almost every ward in the patch already had a blog. Most of the councillors in the Constituency read blogs daily and were keeping their own, albeit with varying degrees of updating. Well that was in November 2006 and by February 2007 I had my own blog and now more than 100 postings along the road it has turned out to be one of the best things I have done. I am really proud of my blog, I enjoy writing it and despite the fact that it has evolved since its conception, the feedback has been really positive. The hit rate might not be as high as the more famous bloggers like Iain Dale’s Diary, ConservativeHome, Dizzy Thinks etc but it is, I am told, excellent for a candidate’s blog and most pleasing of all, readers tend to be local. I have set myself certain rules for the blog: 1) it must be as local as possible, 2) don’t post anything that I might regret later, 3) respect the fact that the Conservative Party is conducting a review of policy, 4) make it interesting, 5) be


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myself and 6) don’t post anything at all if more than one glass of wine has been consumed! Originally I intended it to be a personal diary of a parliamentary candidate – including the highs and lows – but it is actually more of an account of what I have been doing in the constituency, the issues that are being raised with me on the doorsteps, a note of the issues I have been campaigning on, a press release bank and log of my opinions on controversial local issues. The blog has enabled me to track issues as they have evolved ranging from the threatened closure of the local hospital, proposals for the expansion of a sewage treatment works, plans to build houses in a beautiful green valley, and the proposed closure of a local indoor skate park. Campaigners on these issues are sent the link to the story and then a viral campaign begins. The best example of this was when I accidentally stumbled across a petition on the Downing Street website to save Maidstone A&E. I was the fourth signatory on the petition. I wrote a story about it on the blog and then circulated it to our database of supporters, local contacts and friends encouraging them to circulate it to all known supporters of the campaign to keep the A&E open. Within 4 weeks the petition had more than 5000 signatures. At the time of writing we await the Health Secretary’s decision on the matter but as an example of a blogging campaign it was excellent – if only I had thought of opening the petition in the first place! The blog is also a great opportunity to log our door to door activities. I, like every candidate, spend almost every weekend knocking on doors. I love doing it. I really enjoy engaging people in conversation, hearing what they have to say about whatever political party or issue. Quite often you have really surprising conversations about issues that you didn’t really think would be a top priority so you end up learning a lot about what the voters think.

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In many respects canvassing is like having your own focus group. Furthermore, canvassing not only demonstrates that you are out and about with your local councillors or other action team members listening to the issues people are concerned about but it provides great copy for the blog - there is always, without fail, a funny story of some sort to tell at the end of the session. Over the past few months, especially during the local elections we spent a phenomenal amount of time door to door campaigning so it is hardly a surprise that many of my posts included something funny happen whilst armed with canvass sheets. For example during that time I had numerous people (usually men) answer the door in their underwear which means consuming a huge amount of energy engaging in eye to eye communication; someone answer the door covered in flour and offering me cake; being chased around a garden by a huge bee with me running around like a five year old girl; and numerous conversations about football. Every candidate is keen to get themselves in the local papers but I have a particular problem in my area, which the blog helps combat. Whereas for most Kent constituencies there is a local newspaper edition, there is not a Chatham & Aylesford edition. This becomes doubly problematic due to the fact that I am surrounded by high profile Tory MPs, such as Ann Widdicombe, Sir John Stanley and Michael Fallon, making it difficult to get a quote in


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the paper about a local issue or campaign. So the blog allows me to put my comment on the record and when constituents ask what I have said, it is there on the internet forever available for checking. A recent example of this was during the furore over MPs voting to exempt themselves from the Freedom of Information Rules. My opponent voted in favour of the Bill, something I was wholly opposed to. I issued a press release but despite the paper running the story my quote was not included (something I have raised directly with the paper), so I published the full release on my blog. I want the world to know that I was horrified to see our local Labour MP vote in favour of these proposals and that I would not have done so personally. Blogs have their place in a modern day political campaign. My scepticism has abated but my caution has not. I set myself rules and I adhere to them, but at the end of the day I am glad I tried blogging for it has turned out to be a great asset in my campaign to become the next Conservative MP for Chatham & Aylesford.

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Shotgun blogging Nadine Dorries MP http://www.dorries.org.uk/Blog.aspx

To blog or not to blog, in my capacity as an MP, was a huge decision. After all, there is many a slip betwixt cup and lip, or in the case of blogging, betwixt keyboard and the entire planet. Every MP guards carefully – especially in the era of 24/7 news coverage – every public word we utter, in a manner that could almost be described as paranoid. This is because we have all watched, in open mouthed horror, the pain endured by colleagues after a careless whisper flitted from lips to international newswires in a space of nano seconds. Surely, only an MP wishing to commit professional suicide would put spontaneous thoughts or ideas into the public arena on a blog? Blogging is a medium, which by its very ease of unforgiving transmission, does not provide the opportunity for second thought editing. One can easily visualise the dramatic downfall scenario, brought about via an unguarded sentence blogged and posted late at night; it would manifest in the form of an off the cuff remark or a throw away comment, intended to humanise a paragraph. Such a comment would be a mere sideline to the main content of the message I would be attempting to deliver in my two finger typing non Pitman way. Think; type; save; done. A ‘ten years taken to get here’ career taken out by a blog Exocet in just three easy moves.


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What would be my excuse when the journalist gleefully nabbed me, after all, journalists hate bloggers – it is this which makes blogging such a dangerous pastime for MPs. Blogging waters are infested with shorthand enabled career munching journalist piranha, equipped with notepad, pencil and a scalp hungry editor. What would be my defence? Well M’lud, (or a very scary Chief Whip, as has so often been the case). It was late, there was wine; I was in a particularly happy carefree frame of mind. Unfortunately, I would, very sadly, be talking to myself; no doubt addressing my remarks to the wooden studded panels of the Chief Whip’s door, recently slammed in my face, with the words “you’re finished” ringing in my ears. As we know, all political careers end in failure; however, blogging provides new MPs, such as myself, with a unique opportunity to reverse this trend, why not begin in failure? Whether or not to begin each day playing Russian roulette, with words as bullets, did indeed take some thought. To be fair, it wasn’t just the danger that blogging can present to an MP which made me think twice - it was the other bloggers. Did I want to become a member of this group? Could I cut the mustard with the rest of them? You can divide political bloggers into two categories: Those who write egotistical rubbish - the most common form of political blogger. They use the internet as a means of extending their already overly large personalities and opinions. To opine? Is that what blogging is all about? The transference of the opinion of one otherwise insignificant individual to the indifferent masses? There are limits as to what technology can achieve. Blogging can take the horse to water, but it can’t make it read. The egotist

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is largely unaware of this, having dumped his thoughts into cyber space, he or she will naturally assume that the world’s computer owning population will have both read, digested, and allowed their words to influence the daily lives of others. You can spot them a mile off – they are usually the ones talking to me at the ‘death by canapé’ drinks parties. And then, in complete contrast, unassuming excellence - I mean that in the most literal way; unlike the egotists, these bloggers are wordsmiths with serious political attitude. Whether it’s an incredible brain with political sensitivity, or a penchant for bright ties delivering sharp clever astute running commentary, they have no political master. Uninhibited intellectual thought runs riot across the keyboard and what is produced is as good as, if not better than, anything written by any mainstream political editor or commentator. Brain to screen to reader in seconds. Cue the reason why political journalists hate political bloggers. Where are the Emperor’s clothes anyway? Some journalists, the clever ones, regard blogging as simply another welcome stage upon which to strut their stuff. Fraser Nelson, arguably one of the most politically astute journalists of the day writes the Spectator ‘Coffee House’ blog (www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse). A daily must read. Nick Robinson writes his excellent blog on the run (www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/). You won’t hear anything Nick writes in his blog, spoken on the News. Both men embraced blogging with open arms in a laudable ‘if you can’t beat em’ attitude’. The journalists who hate bloggers are schizophrenic. Whilst fervently scouring MPs’ blogs in the gleeful hope of destroying us, they madly cut, paste, and, print much of what we say.


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Every single week my words look back at me from the pages of a newspaper. The Daily Mail is open before me today, with the words I wrote three months ago looking back at me from the pages of the society gossip column. Add lazy to schizophrenic. Obviously, I eventually succumbed, I found my blog niche; after all, what is the point in doing something that everyone else is already doing? My niche is the de-mystification of Westminster. I like to think that in some small way I take Westminster, with all its strange quirky ways, into the homes of ordinary people like myself, through the prism of an MP’s ever so unremarkable way of life. And here I am, at it again - sat with my laptop on the balcony of my rented holiday villa in Spain. Far away from the cautious Westminster atmosphere; nothing to anchor me to the usual second thoughts, which I do occasionally have whilst tripping through the corridors of power, pondering on what metaphor I can deploy to illustrate an observation I have witnessed - which will now never leave my brain until exorcised by a blog. No danger of sighting an eminent role model to make me think “one day I want to be like you - so I had better re-phrase that comment”. No Whip to shout down the corridor after me “Great blog yesterday” to make me think “you are happy with me today”,

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which makes life so much easier - so what exactly was I going to write, which could spoil today?” No telephone calls from my Association Chairman; no political emails to deal with. I am in a very serious blogging danger zone. If I were to slip up, it would more than likely happen on a night like tonight. When the hot sun has gone to bed and the underwater lights in the aquamarine pool twinkle and beckon; the jug of Sangria on the table next to me screams, “more ice”; the heady scent of Bougainvillaea fills the air; and Jose Gonzales plays seductively in the background, wooing me, egging me on. There is a beautiful Batik print on the balcony wall of the Madonna and child, it’s looking down on me; the warm sea breeze is blowing the candles on the table making them flicker, playing tricks with my eyes. Every time I look up, the Madonna frowns and shakes her head at me. Unfortunately, I don’t think even the Holy Mother can help me once I have blogged on. It’s between me, the circling shoal of ‘out to get me’ piranhas; a loaded gun; an Exocet missile; a suicide wish; the Chief Whip; and the save button. I wonder why more MPs don’t blog?


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State of the Scottish blogosphere Grant Thoms TARTAN HERO: http://tartanhero.blogspot.com

In the September 2006 edition of Public Affairs News, a little glossy booklet fell on to my desk and caught my eye. “Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging in the UK”. A quick perusal had me gripped. I’d heard about the term ‘blogging’ but hadn’t made any real effort to find out more. Page after page of 100 Tory bloggers, 100 Labour, 100 LibDems and the like had me searching for Scottish bloggers. I could count them on one hand and none appeared to cover my politics – Scottish nationalism. So, as a recently selected SNP council candidate in Glasgow, I thought I would have a go at writing a campaign diary as a blog. Like most newbies, writing a blog is like learning to drive. You have to get into the ‘mirror-signal-manoeuvre’ mode of ‘readthink-write’, with your wits about you and finger on the political pulse. Building the blog with all those widgets, web marketing techniques and post links, soon had me addicted. And, of course, one of the best ways of learning how to write, promote and get your blog read is to learn from others. Consequently, building a blog roll to remind you of where you have been and who you have read, can get you recognised (the broadcaster Lesley Riddoch’s reference on Scottish Votepods.com helped a lot). So from a start in October 2006, I’ve watched the Scottish political blogosphere grow: from a handful of fellow bloggers in 2006, peaking at 150 by polling day in May, there are now over

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TOP 20 SCOTTISH POLITICAL BLOGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Rolled-up Trousers Doctor Vee Blether with Brian Edinburgh Sucks! Scots and Independent IndyGal Freedom and Whisky 1820: Rise Like Lions J Arthur MacNumpty Councillor Andrew Burns’ North to Leith Havering On Angus Nicolson Kezia Dugdale Hollywood Chronicles MicroShaft Scottish Toryboy A big stick and a small carrot A Place to Stand TerryWatch

http://www.osamasaeed.org/ http://doctorvee.co.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/briantaylor/ http://www.edinburghsucks.com/ http://scotsandindependent.blogspot.com/ http://indygal.blog.com/ http://freedomandwhisky.blogspot.com/ http://1820.org.uk/ http://macnumpty.blogspot.com/ http://andrewburns.blogspot.com/ http://northtoleith.blogspot.com/ http://haveringhavers.blogspot.com/index.html http://angusnicolson.blogspot.com/ http://keziadugdale.blogspot.com/index.html http://holyroodchronicles.blogspot.com/ http://www.microshaft.co.uk/ http://scottishtoryboy.blogspot.com/ http://bsscworld.blogspot.com/ http://a-place-to-stand.blogspot.com/ http://terrywatch.blogspot.com/

TOP 10 SNP BLOGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

IndyGal Scots and Independent J Arthur MacNumpty North to Leith Adam Smith was a Socialist Aileen Campbell MSP The Giant Step Forward Bellegrove Belle Bid for Freedom Ian Hamilton QC

http://indygal.blog.com/ http://scotsandindependent.blogspot.com/ http://macnumpty.blogspot.com/ http://northtoleith.blogspot.com/ http://adamsmithwasasocialist.blogspot.com/ http://www.aileencampbell.com/ http://thegiantstepforward.blogspot.com/ http://bellgrovebelle.blogspot.com/index.html http://bidforfreedom.blogspot.com/ http://www.ianhamiltonqc.com/wordpress/

COMPILED BY GRANT THOMS OF THE TARTAN HERO BLOG

100 Scottish political bloggers in one shape or another with regular if not daily postings. Scottish political bloggers represent nearly every aspect of the political spectrum. Many are politically active in parties ranging from the mainstream Tory, Labour, LibDem and SNP but also the far right, far left, green, single-issue campaigners and those with


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no political home to speak of. The SNP/nationalist-leaning blogs and right-of-centre ‘libertarians’ have dominated. For governing parties in Scotland up to 3 May, Labour and LibDems produced very few bloggers of any seriousness. Compare that with say the Kerron Crosses and Tom Watsons of the UK political scene and Labour are seriously lacking north of Hadrian’s Wall. Most of the Top 20 Scottish Political Bloggers I’ve put together only started in the last 12 months, yet have developed quickly to rival their longer-lasting writers. Many were candidates in the Scottish elections, either for Parliament or a local Council but interestingly hardly any were elected – maybe blogging diverts you from winning? However, some of the new Nationalist MSPs like Aileen Campbell, Jamie Hepburn and Christina McKelvie blogged, as did returning MSPs Brian Adam and Stewart Stevenson. However, getting an MSP to write about anything other than positively covering stories about themselves is very difficult. Balancing an independent voice on a blog with party loyalty can be tricky, as I’ve found out. The dreaded email from the party HQ reminding me of a code of conduct on this or party policy on that, is not one I enjoy. A lot of the blogs opened up in the last year by political candidates only lasted as long as it took to count the votes, win or lose. So Pauline McNeill, Marlyn Glen, Derek Brownlee and others tended to disappear like snow off a dyke on a warm winter’s day. Many of the council candidates on the other hand have continued their blogs into office: Cameron Rose, Donald Wilson, Alison Thewliss, Jennifer Dunn and Mark McDonald. Yet when it comes to assessing the good from bad, the well-written from the copy/pasters, the well-read from the infrequently visited, then there are helpful leads. Scottish Round-up (successor to Scottish Blogging Review, http://scottishroundup.co.uk), provides

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an invaluable weekly review of the Scottish, mainly political, blogs. It’s just a shame one of the reviewers has a habit of ignoring anything I ever write but then I’m not one to bear grudges – honest, I even included him in the Scottish Top 20! One factor that’s missing in a lot of the Scottish blogs is the lack of gossip. Having our own Parliament, you would think more people would be blogging with political innuendo, juicy tit-bits of political intrigue and comments on the personalities that make up our tartan body politic. Is it because the Scottish political scene is too small that gossip can be traced to its sources all too easily? I think not. Part of this has been the lack of identification with a Caledonian Guido Fawkes or Iain Dale. Scottish bloggers love to give their take on policies and hit out at the big players. Few will constructively criticise fellow travellers in their political camps. There are hardly any ‘scoops’ released on our blogs compared with Westminster-focused sites. I would contend that most Scottish political blogs are read by a small readership comprising of fellow activists, some opponents and a few journalists. And that tends to illustrate the narrowness of most Scottish political blogs. Reaching out to a wider audience is a big challenge. Yet there are Scottish-based bloggers who have made it big in Britain. Mr Eugenides and Devil’s Kitchen write for an audience


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that is definitely wider than their domiciled land and probably reflects the fact that their political ideology is not restricted to Alba matters. There are even bloggers such as Small Nation and J Arthur MacNumpty who write about Scottish politics in a clever informed manner but actually live in Ireland and the north of England respectively. So if the 2007 elections provided a catalyst for Scottish political blogging, can a UK General Election take it to another level, bringing in more players with more views? A snap election in October is unlikely to help, but the longer Gordon Brown takes to go to the country, the chances are more Scottish politicos will reach for the web to spread their message. But new entrants to the blogging marketplace isn’t the be all and end all. The players in the Scottish Top 20 have settled into their roles and are likely to go from strength to strength. More power to your PCs chaps and chapesses.

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The British blogosphere is still teething Helen Szamuely EUREFERENDUM BLOG: http://eureferendum.com and and CONSERVATIVE HISTORY BLOG: http://conservativehistory.blogspot.com

A couple of years ago I was taking part in a discussion about the differences between the American and European (largely British) blogospheres. I gave it as my opinion that the British blogosphere was trailing a long way behind the American one for two reasons, neither of which was the well-known canard that we get everything ten years later. The first reason was that in Britain we did not have the same need for some outlet for right-wing politics that they did in America until quite recently. Both talk radio – the preserve of the right to this day – and the blogosphere to some extent have allowed people to circumvent the main-stream media (MSM), which has, for several decades, pursued a left of centre line. When it comes to domestic politics, there are newspapers in Britain that have supported the Conservative Party (mostly) and have pronounced themselves to be on the right. The second reason was a little more difficult to admit to. It had something to do with American and British attitudes. For historical reasons Americans tend to be a good deal more sassy. Nobody tells me what to think, is a far more common attitude on the other side of the Pond than here. Once the blogosphere took off, that attitude became even more prevalent, both on the right and the left. The


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blogs were the expression of individuality and a refusal to accept the view that is being imposed from above. Sadly, this attitude is mostly absent in Britain where there is still a tendency to accept what the BBC or the bigger newspapers say without too much questioning even when the particular quotation is prefaced with the words: “Of course I don’t believe anything newspapers say”. The British blogosphere has been going for as many years as the American one but it still teething. It is crabby, gossipy and inwardlooking. It is also frequently very amusing but it does not, on the whole, want to deal with the big themes of what is going on in the world. And it is not taken seriously. To this day, there is an overwhelming belief in Britain that blogs are nothing but a lot of preening diaries by people who have a need to tell the world everything about themselves. Well, of course, there are people like that in every blogosphere in the world. They do not matter to anyone except their friends and relations. What we desperately need in Britain is a blogosphere that is the new media; that takes sides in the big debates and sets out an agenda (or several agendas) that is outside the main-stream media. Instead, we find the opposite happening. The main-stream media is trying to take over and tame the blogosphere. Every newspaper, every TV channel now has its own slew of blogs, written by journalists, who cannot, in actual fact, move beyond the line laid down by their employers. Their contribution to the political discussion is a bit of background gossip about their workplace and greater space to air the views they have already given in their published articles. The blogosphere as an extension of the deadtree media. Sadly, we seem to accept this, though I have some hopes that the attitude will change. In fact, attitudes are changing on the other side. The government is beginning to think that the new media might be worth

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paying attention to and the COI Media Monitoring Unit is working on a way of ensuring that information from blogs and internet forums will be added to the media briefing packs sent out to ministers. Given the wording, one assumes that this is another way of pursuing that will o’the wisp, public opinion. However, it is a step in the right direction. Despite the many shortcomings of the British blogosphere there are blogs out there, run by professionals like doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers who, if their authors think their comments are taken seriously, will respond to it. The third point I made at that talk and, like the other two, I consider it to be still valid, was that the time of the British blogosphere will come when and if there is a campaign for a referendum on the European constitution (now renamed the Reform Treaty). In general, foreign policy coverage in the main-stream media in Britain is considerably more one-sided than the coverage of domestic politics. On the whole the European Union is either ignored or described in vaguely positive terms with perhaps a few problems. No MSM outlet will talk seriously about alternative possibilities for Britain. On the whole, the MSM tends to be anti-American, either from the left or the right; ignorant and dismissive of the Anglosphere; largely critical of Israel, no matter what the particu-


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lar event described; and somewhat naïve in its coverage of various organizations in the Gulf and the Middle East, who tend to be extremely good at media manipulation. These and similar issues are made for the blogosphere and several blogs have responded. These are the circumstances in which we need to circumvent the MSM (and that includes the “blogs” run by journalists, described by us on EU Referendum as “clogs”, that is corporate blogs) and to present alternative ideas. Having groused about the British blogosphere at length, I shall finish on an optimistic note. There are many indications that the European issue in its latest manifestation, the reissued Constitutional Treaty, now known as the Reform Treaty, is injecting toughness into the blogosphere, which may well find that the battle to be fought over this will make it grow up.

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Political blogging down under David Farrar KIWIBLOG: www.kiwiblog.co.nz

Political Blogging in New Zealand is receiving significant mainstream recognition as two of the three daily newspaper political editors now run political blogs in addition to their normal stories and columns. The blog of the NZ Herald political editor, Audrey Young, played a major part in the recent sacking of Welfare Minister David Benson-Pope. Benson-Pope had denied any involvement with the decision to sack his Ministry’s Communications Manager because her boyfriend worked for the Opposition Leader. It then emerged in Parliament that he had told the Ministry CEO he could not talk freely and frankly to his Ministry if she kept that role. Within minutes of this disclosure, Young blogged previously unpublished interview segments with Benson-Pope that directly contradicted what he said in Parliament, and stated in blunt blogging fashion that the Minister had lied to not just the public but to her personally. Within 24 hours he had been sacked as her blog post was cited near universally as the nail in his coffin. Blogs have also been recognized in legislation, with what may be a world first. The Government has introduced an Electoral Finance Bill which clamps down a huge range of political activity and advocacy in election year. The Bill is regarded as incredibly draconian, yet there was one bright spot in it.


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Clause 5(2) lists a number of publications which are exempt from election advertising rules, such as newspapers, television broadcasters, commercial books. And paragraph (g) exempts:

the publication by an individual, on a non-commercial basis, on the Internet of his or her personal political views (being the kind of publication commonly known as a blog). The Government knew that any law which tried to regulate or restrict blogs would be untenable and buying a fight they wouldn’t win. Also of significance is the case of one blogger, Tim Selwyn, who was jailed for sedition in a highly controversial case. He was not charged for what he did on his blog, but for his advocacy in pamphlets for civil disobedience and smashing windows to protest against the legislation removing the ability of Maori Iwi to try and claim title to parts of the foreshore and seabed. He is now a prison blogger where he writes entries out long hand and sends them to a friend who blogs them for him. In terms of the New Zealand blogosphere, there have been a number of trends since the 2005 general election: An immediate decline after the election of many political blogs – they were in it just for the campaign A growing lack of blog voices for the incumbent Government as they get mired in scandal after scandal. The major “progressive” blog in New Zealand used to comment on politics almost every day, and now goes weeks without referring to happenings in Parliament More blogging by MPs, including a video blog for Opposition Leader John Key, similar to Web Cameron and a traditional blog for the Green Party co-leader, Russel Norman.

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A growing use of You Tube with both the Government and Opposition putting videos up every week, and relying on blogs to promote them. My own blog, kiwiblog.co.nz, continues to be the major centre of online political debate in New Zealand. The most recent monthly stats registered approximately: 200 posts 25,000 comments 400,000 unique visits The major Sunday newspaper, the Herald on Sunday, runs a “Blog of the Week” feature on its editorial page, and stories on blogs routinely get picked up by traditional media. The NZ Parliament recently amended its rules to ban satirical use of photos or footage taken from the House of Representatives. Political Blogs have happily both ignored and deliberately flouted these rules (which were mocked on Jon Stewart’s popular Daily Show in the US), and so far no bloggers have been summoned before Parliament for contempt. On a more serious front, some NZ blogs have led the media in terms of research into issues before Parliament. The No Right Turn blog did such a fine job of researching the history of prosecutions for sedition in New Zealand, that much of his work was uesd by the Law Commission in their report to Parliament recommending the sedition laws be repealed. The bill has progressed through Parliament with unanimous support and the only oral submitters in favour were bloggers. The best analysis on the afore-mentioned Electoral Finance Bill has been on blogs, including a specialist one set up on electoral


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finance laws. The traditional media were around seven to ten days behind the blogs in printing stories about how far reaching and draconian the law would be. As we head towards the November 2008 election, blogs continue to grow in influence and readership. More and more people do not want to get their news and analysis once a day at 6 pm, but all day every day. And a recent poll in our near neighbour Australia, found that 85% believe newspaper journalists are often biased, 74% believe television journalists are often biased yet only 49% believe Internet sites are often biased. No wonder blog readership continues to increase!

For those interested in politics down under in New Zealand, some recommended blog are: RIGHT David Farrar, http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz – daily politics Cactus Kate, http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/ - sex and politics Craig Foss MP, http://craigfossmp.blogspot.com/ - a new tech focused MP Trevor Loudon, http://newzeal.blogspot.com/ - tracking the communists and socialists Rodney Hide MP, http://www.rodneyhide.com/index.php/weblog/index/ - ACT’s Leader Whale Oil Beef Hooked, http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/, delightfully offensive LEFT Maia, http://capitalismbad.blogspot.com/ - an extreme feminist and anti-capitalist outlook The Greens, http://blog.greens.org.nz/ - official blog of The Green Party Idiot/Savant, http://norightturn.blogspot.com/ - the leading liberal blog Public Address, http://www.publicaddress.net/ - the most widely read group blog Span, http://spanblather.blogspot.com/ - a feminist left blog

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The state of green blogging Jim Jepps DAILY (MAYBE): http://jimjay.blogspot.com

For a medium that so regularly expels so much hot air blogging is possibly the most carbon friendly of all means of communication. Despite this the green movement had been slow to catch on to its potential. For some time the preserve of a tiny minority of green minded people there has been a significant shift in the last year or so, a shift that will hopefully continue. Once green blogs used to be few and far between and often verging on the embarrassing when they did appear. Recently however they have really begun to mature and expand their range. The green movement is a broad and pluralist one, and therefore extremely well suited to the anarchic chaos of blogging. It's also one reason why compiling a "top twenty" is so difficult and feels like comparing apples with steam rollers. However, this problem is the welcome and natural outcome of the green blogsphere reflecting the political currents it represents more closely. Showing how rounded and eclectic the green side of the fence is not just the job of the straight political bloggers but also those who are attempting to live a greener life and are good enough to record these attempts for all to see. Of course big names like Monbiot (www.monbiot.com) and Tatchell (http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell) both blog but they can never achieve the intimacy of those quieter more modest voices, like Kitchen Witch (http://kitchenwitch.journalspace.com) or Green Mummy (http://greenmummy.blogspot.com) my personal


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TOP 20 GREEN BLOGS Alice in Blogland Sian Berry Tom Acrewoods Transition Culture Derek Wall Jenny Jones Gaian Economics Know Your Place Peter Tatchell The Ecologist Green Girls Global Earthquake Cove Philobiblon The Void Green Ladywell Barkingside 21 Green Jelly Bean Coventry Green Party Conserve England Greenmans Occasional Organ

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

http://alice-in-blogland.blogspot.com/ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/sian-berry http://tom.acrewoods.net/blog http://transitionculture.org http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/derek_wall http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jenny_jones/ http://gaianeconomics.blogspot.com/ http://www.paulkingsnorth.net/blog.html http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/ http://www.theecologist.org/blog.asp http://www.greengirlsglobal.com/blog/ http://earthquakecove.blogspot.com/ http://www.philobiblon.co.uk/ http://johnnyvoid.blogspot.com/ http://greenladywell.blogspot.com/ http://barkingside21.blogspot.com/ http://www.greenjellybean.org.uk/ http://coventrygreenparty.blogspot.com/ http://conservengland.blogspot.com/ http://greenmansoccasional.blogspot.com/

COMPILED BY JIM JEPPS OF THE DAILY (MAYBE) BLOG

favourites in this field - but there is also a flowering industry in ecoliving sites, especially for some reason allotment blogs. The green blogosphere can go from the extra-respectable Christian Greens of the Evangelical Ecologist (http://www.evaneco.com) or Pie and Coffee (http://www.pieandcoffee.org) to the anarchist horror box that is The Void (http://johnnyvoid.blogspot.com) whose irresponsible and vituperative rants are often a joy to behold. We have leftists, like my blog The Daily (Maybe) (http://jimjay.blogspot.com), and Greenman’s Occasional Organ (http://greenmansoccasional.blogspot.com) who perhaps represent a more radical tradition that would have once found the selves in the dark halls of the Labour Party straight over to paid up Tories like Ellee Seymour (http://elleeseymour.com) whose genuinely excellent blog might be seen by some as representing the fresher,

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more modern and compassionate face of Cameron’s Conservatives. Some blogs explore new areas such as Sonia’s Diary (http://sonia.pickledpolitics.com) or Philobiblon (http://phil biblon.co.uk) who ask where women’s issues fit into the green movement, or Gaian Economics (http://gaianeconomics.blogspot.com) who sets her enormous economist brain to the fundamentals of modern capitalism. Where green blogs have really made an impact though is in campaigning. This can be seen most clearly in those environmental campaigns that have used blogging as a vital and accessible part of their work. Top of the list has to be Save the Ribble (http://www.save-the-ribble.blogspot.com) and the Mersey Basin Campaign (http://merseybasin.typepad.co.uk/my_weblog) both of whom produce extremely readable blogs put to practical use. Whilst these two blogs represent long running campaigns we shouldn’t forget that often blogs have a consciously short life span, like the now infamous Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow who used new media to their full advantage including their own short lived blog (http://climatechangecamp.blogspot.com). Likewise green initiatives often find a sound expression in the blogosphere. Green Girls Global (http://greengirlsglobal.com) consistently post on a whole variety of useful hints and tips on living a greener lifestyle and the bizarre Magnificent Cycle Cinema (http://cyclecinema.wordpress.com/posts) have been able to combine their revolutionary vision for the everyday, widespread use of renewable technologies with an invaluable method to mobilise their supporters. Of course, these kinds of blogs always have to keep the humour and innovation coming if they are to maintain a readership in what are, to some extent, cunningly disguised press release blogs. Fair play to them if they are able to pull it off.


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It’s rare for an organisational blog to be able to build those personal relationships and intimacy that is blogging at its best. However, it can be done. GreenPeace UK (http://www.gree peace.org.uk/blog) have been able to square the circle with their group blog by keeping it young and funky, never straying into any dry “party line” whilst also ably expressing the aims of the group. To a lesser extent Reading Green Party’s (http://www.readinggreenparty.org.uk/diary) group diary of their councillors and activists still manages to be a refreshing read. Other elected Greens have their own blogs like Lewisham’s Cllr Sue Luxton (http://greenladywell.blogspot.com), York’s Cllr Andy D’Agorn (http://www.readmyday.co.uk/andydag), or Oxford’s Cllr Matt Sellwood (http://matthewsellwood.blogspot.com) all of whom are grappling with how to best use blogging to both advance green politics and serve their constituencies - sometimes to modest but good effect. Other Green Party bloggers include the two principal speakers Derek Wall (http://another-green-world.blogspot.com) and London Mayoral candidate Sian Berry (http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/sian-berry) who use their blogs in very different, but complimentary ways. Whilst Derek tends towards traditional leftist preoccupations, like Latin American radicalism and the-

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oretical concerns, Sian looks to direct action and street campaigning. In fact it’s where the green movement is not of one mind that green blogging can become really interesting. The role of leadership in a political movement or whether you need to be an anticapitalist to be truly green often generate both heat and light, making for the most interesting discussions that actually do impact on the direction of the green political sphere. Green blogs have often been good sources for the dissemination of scientific arguments and discoveries, mobilisation for protest and showing the human and more nuanced side of a political tendency that can tend to be rather caricatured in the media as one dimensional and censorious. Whilst there is a long way to go for green bloggers to fulfil their maximum potential the story so far shows that they are beginning to make their mark and provoke interesting debate in times when green issues are consistently moving up the political agenda.


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Blogging in the Anglosphere Donal Blaney BLANEY'S BLARNEY: http://donalblaney.blogspot.com

The Anglosphere encompasses the nations of the English-speaking world, adherents to individualism, the rule of law and the elevation of freedom to the first rank of political virtues. Many bloggers in each of the nations comprising the Anglosphere will feed off each other, particularly when an issue of common concern (such as the Iraq War, encroachments on liberty or environmentalism) is being discussed among English speakers at broadly the same time.

United States Having dominated both Capitol Hill and the airwaves (thanks to the conservative domination of talk radio), the American conservative movement has been slower to adapt to the power of the new media than America’s left-liberals. Key websites and blogs in the US that any conservative must read daily include The Drudge Report1, TownHall.com,2 Right Wing World,3 The Corneriv and (for the next year only) BlogsForBush.5 More irreverent and controversial blogs include Right Wing News,6 Instapundit.com,7 Bluey Blog,8 View from the Right9 and Michelle Malkin’s video blog, 1 http://www.drudgereport.com 2 http://www.townhall.com. 3 http://www.rightwingworld.com. 4 http://corner.nationalreview.com. 5 http://www.blogsforbush.com. 6 http://www.rightwingnews.com. 7 http://www.instapundit.com. 8 http://robertbluey.com/blog

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HotAir.com.10 Conservative activists keen for campaigning ideas will also want to read RightMarch.com11 and Bureaucrash.12 Conservative think-tanks are trying their best to use the new media to maximum effect. The Heritage Foundation not only produces short video briefings13 but has recently launched its own blog too.14 Liberals in the United States will focus on The Daily Kos,15 Huffington Post16 America Blog17 and the pejorative Crooks and Liars.18 Other leading left-wing blogs in America include The Smirking Chimp,19 All Spin Zone,20 My Left Wing21 and Liberal Oasis22 (“where the Left is right and the Right is wrong”). The preeminent liberal think-tank – the Brookings Institution23 – does not have an integral blog as such but its website is updated with the regularity a blogger can only dream of. For libertarians it is a simple choice: Samizdata is predominant24 and is closely pursued by the Chicago Boyz.25

Canada Blogging is less pronounced still in Canada. Nonetheless conservatives will want to seek out The Blogging Tories,26 a group of 300 9 http://amnation.com/vfr/. 10 http://hotair.com. 11 http://rightmarch.com. 12 http://bureaucrash.com. 13 http://www.heritage.org/WhereWeStand/HIF/. 14 http://www.heritageblogs.org. 15 http://www.dailykos.com. 16 http://www.huffingtonpost.com. 17 http://www.americablog.com. 18 http://www.crooksandliars.com. 19 http://www.smirkingchimp.com/ 20 http://allspinzone.com/wp/ 21 http://www.myleftwing.com. 22 http://liberaloasis.com/ 23 http://www.brookings.edu/ 24 http://www.samizdata.net/blog/ 25 http://www.chicagoboyz.net/ 26 http://www.bloggingtories.ca/.


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individual Canadian centre-right bloggers who coalesce around one principal website. Key members of the Blogging Tories are Steve Janke,27 Halls of Macadamia,28 Stephen Taylor29 and Captain’s Quarters.30 Libertarians are represented among the broader coalition of Blogging Tories by the likes of The Invisible Hand,31 Atlas Shrugs32 and Backseat Blogger.33 More quirky blogs include Raincoaster.34 Liblogs35 is the primary portal for Canadian liberals while selfstyled progressives in Canada can use Progressive Bloggers36 as their primary resource.

Australia In the Antipodes, much focus is on the impending Australian elections although Australian blogs have yet to develop the level of notoriety of political blogs in Britain, Canada or the United States for breaking stories, ruining reputations and attracting mainstream media attention. Fellow political anoraks will want to read Mumble37 and Oz Politics Blog.38 Conservatives (known, of course, confusingly as liberals in Australia) will want to read Pommygranate,39 Matt Marks’ Right Thinker40 and Tim Blair.41 27 http://www.stevejanke.com/. 28 http://hallsofmacadamia.blogspot.com/ 29 http://www.stephentaylor.ca/. 30 http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/. 31 http://www.invisiblehand.ca/ 32 http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/ 33 http://www.backseatblogger.com/ 34 http://raincoaster.com. 35 http://www.liblogs.ca/ 36 http://www.progressivebloggers.ca/ 37 http://www.mumble.com.au/. 38 http://www.ozpolitics.info/blog/. 39 http://pommygranate.blogspot.com/. 40 http://www.righthinker.com/. 41 http://timblair.net/.

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From the left, you can read Polemica 42 (although the Australian author now seems to be in Britain), self-styled social democrat John Quiggin43 and Jeremy – “an onymous lefty” (sic).44

New Zealand Kiwis, perhaps by the nature of the size of New Zealand, have given us only a handful of political blogs. Particular popular are Silent Running45 (announcing “if you are offended by strong right wing views and bad language, you should probably f**k off and go hug a tree”), Not PC46 (“promoting capitalist acts between consenting adults”), Just Left47 and No Right Turn.48 The pre-eminent New Zealand blog is David Farrar’s Kiwiblog.49

Best of the rest As the Anglosphere includes other nations – and individuals within additional countries – it is right to focus on the likes of South Africa, Ireland and the remainder of the English-speaking Commonwealth. South Africa’s English language blogosphere is growing rapidly. Leading blogs include Trash Media ,50 Politics.za 51 (“third world country; first world politics”), the Fish Bowl,52 Champagne Heathen53 and the pro-Israeli It’s Almost Supernatural.54 42 http://polemica.info. 43 http://johnquiggin.com/. 44 http://anonymouslefty.blogspot.com/. 45 http://silentrunning.tv/. 46 http://pc.blogspot.com/ 47 http://jtc.blogs.com/just_left/ 48 http://norightturn.blogspot.com/ 49 http://kiwiblog.co.nz. 50 http://trashmedia.co.za/ 51 http://politics.za.net/ 52 http://jontyfisher.blogspot.com/ 53 http://champsheathen.blogspot.com/ 54 http://supernatural.blogs.com/


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Across the Irish Sea, Politics in Ireland aggregates stories from other bloggers in Ireland.55 Among those blogs which feed and break stories are Irish Election,56 The Limerick Blogger57 and The Cedar Lounge Revolution58 (“for Lefties too stubborn to quit”). In the Asian sub-continent, blogging is more prevalent in India than in Pakistan, Sir Lanka or Bangladesh. The India Political Blog59 is seemingly powerful and other noted blogs include Desicritics60 and the Indian Economy Blog.61 Because of censorship in Pakistan, the blogosphere is very quiet although the Glasshouse62 is hard-hitting. Sri Lanka’s blogosphere is at its formative stages although Sri Lanka Politics63 is surprisingly well-written, as is A Voice in Colombo.64 In Hong Kong, Simon World’s East Meets Westerner Blog65 is prominent. Among other Commonwealth nations, noteworthy newly-nascent blogs exist such as three Jamaican blogs: Jamaican Lifestyle,66 One Jamaica 67 and Jamaica Elections.68 In Barbados, Barbadians can read Doan Mind Me69 (“I duz talk nuff foolishness”) while the Bajan Reporter70 roves across the Caribbean. The most comprehensive pan-Caribbean blog is Caribbean360.com.71 55 http://politicsinireland.com/ 56 http://www.irishelection.com/ 57 http://www.limerickblogger.org/blog/ 58 http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/ 59 http://indiapoliticalblog.com/ 60 http://desicritics.org/politics/ 61 http://indianeconomy.org/ 62 http://politicalpakistan.blogspot.com/ 63 http://srilankapolitics.blogspot.com/ 64 http://landlikenoother.blogspot.com/ 65 http://simonworld.mu.nu/ 66 http://jamaicangirl2007.wordpress.com/ 67 http://onejamaica.blogspot.com/ 68 http://jamaicaelections.com/general/2007/blog/ 69 http://jdidthoughts.blogspot.com/ 70 http://bajanreporter.blogspot.com 71 http://www.caribbean360.com/

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As can be seen, the spread of political blogging across the Anglosphere is no mean achievement. No doubt by next year’s edition of this publication, many new political blogs will have arisen, not least in the United States in the run-up to the US Presidential Election next November and in Britain if and when a general election is called. The question is: will any blog be powerful enough to be able to derail a candidate’s campaign for the highest political office?


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State of the Irish blogosphere Mick Fealty SLUGGER O’TOOLE: http://www.sluggerotoole.com

When I started my own blog on Irish politics back in June 2002, there was not really anything other than a single, global blogosphere, never mind one dedicated to national politics. Despite the usual hype, political blogging has been slow to take off in Ireland. Early adopters like Frank McGahon and Gavin Sheridan were as likely to discuss global issues of free market values, social justice or climate change, as engage in any localised political issues or national conversation. The irony is that few of these issues make it into the public discourse on either side of the border. Indeed, Irish politics is a strangely content free zone. Public figures and media performance easily outweigh policy in the estimation of political success. In Northern Ireland, politics has been dominated by one question and one question only for generations. The border: should it stay or should it go? Unfinished business from the past means the reinforcement of tribal loyalties has predominated. Now we have an inclusive government, which effectively has resulted in the political equivalents of Margaret Thatcher and Neil Kinnock, pulling broadly in the same direction. And the Republic suffers its own hangover from history. The superlative economic performance of the Celtic Tiger similarly arises from the Tallaght Agreement of the late 1987 which was a bilateral accord between government and opposition to sponsor stringent fiscal control of central government. Irish politics since then has been largely been a post ideological affair.

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TOP 20 IRISH BLOGS 1

Slugger O'Toole. http://www.sluggerotoole.com Northern Ireland's best known political watering hole.

2

IrishElection.com. http://www.irishelection.com Mapping all of the races for political power in the Republic.

3

Cedar Lounge Revolution http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com A collective of old Left thinkers who refuse to decommission.

4

A Tangled Web http://atangledweb.typepad.com Tells it like it is from the Right and not afraid to shoot from the hip.

5

Malcolm Redfellow Revivus http://redfellow.blogspot.com Retired district councilor, with an intelligent, discursive style.

6

Mark Devenport. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport BBC politics editor with an eye for detail in and around Stormont.

7

Gaskin Balrog http://gaskinbalrog.blogspot.com Social conservatism from a Sinn Fein perspective.

8

Cuffe Street http://cuffestreet.blogspot.com The first blogging TD and, in Irish terms, a veteran.

9

Green Ribbon http://tomgriffin.typepad.com/the_green_ribbon Clean, rigorous analysis of British Irish affairs.

10

Young Unionists http://www.youngunionists.org.uk First group blog associated with a political party in Ireland.

11

El Blogador http://elblogador.blogspot.com A strident moderate nationalist voice, which occasionally breaks news stories.

12

Most sincerely folks http://hughgreen.wordpress.com The quintessence of calm and genial common sense.

13

Splintered Sunrise http://splinteredsunrise.wordpress.com Sharp, closely argued commentary from the Left.

14

The Limerick Blogger http://www.limerickblogger.org/blog Everything you ever needed to know about Limerick

15

Everything Ulster http://www.everythingulster.com Young, passionate, and thorough Unionist from Belfast.

16

Harry Magee http://www.harrymcgee.com/index.html Journalist blogger tracking the big party game in the Republic

17

United Irelander http://unitedirelander.blogspot.com A southern nationalist earnestly looking for a way back to 1798

18

Three Thousand Versts of Lone... http://threethousandversts.blogspot.com Mix of Northern Irish and Russian politics and literature.

19

South Belfast Diary http://southbelfastdiary.blogspot.com An English socialist trying to make sense of the Irish political landscape.

20

1169 and counting. http://1169andcounting.blogspot.com A hard line Republican providing unique access to political journals of the past.


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In contrast to the great two party contests of the UK and the US where the influence of blogging has made itself felt both inside and outside party debate of the kind that has driven the Daily Kos, or Conservative Home. There are few easily grabbed political binaries that can enervate contending blocs of supporters/commentators. Accordingly blogging has largely taken hold amongst the politically unaligned, or the ideological fringes. Members of the small Labour Party, the right of centre Progressive Democrats and the Greens have all embraced blogging with a will. The larger, more traditional parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, have, up to now, with a few exceptions, largely given it a pass. Further, on both sides of the border, elections are run on the single transferable vote system, which tends to fragment party allegiances and puts strong emphasis on tending the local vote, rather than developing strong policy focused identities. An MLA or TD can expect to be returned mostly on the basis of what they personally have been seen to deliver locally, than on their performance in the house as orator, government scrutiniser or law maker. Compared to the US, where the blogs like the Drudge Report and Instapundit have been generating real impacts for some years the Irish blogosphere has been slow to galvanise. If you consider that mainstream UK blogging is something like two or three years behind the States, then Ireland must be a good two or three years behind Britain. Some of the reasons for that lag are clearly cultural, but there are some technological reasons why we have been slow to reach critical mass. Cork blogger Damien Mulley believes broadband is crucial to the development of an Irish online culture. “Broadband is an ‘always-on’ technology, and so is blogging. When you have a thought you can blog it quickly and then spend time reading around the subject on other sites and blogs. Dial-up is more like an

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SAS operation: get on, do your post, and get off again.” Although Northern Ireland was the first European region to have 100% broadband connectivity, the Republic lags badly. In 2005 42 percent of Irish households had internet access. At the same time in Britain, it was 55%. Building critical mass, has been long and slow. American journalist Jay Rosen believes that the key strength of political bloggers doesn’t lie in breaking stories, but in their capacity to endlessly mull over detail and nuance. In the wake of Lott’s departure, he noted that the blogosphere spent hours, days and weeks “sifting through information, rescuing facts and arguments from the news cycle’s strange habits, while loosening up the lines of debate”. There have been a number of stories snagged like this in Ireland. The Robert McCartney murder case broke through the mainstream press, but several Dublin journalists I have spoken to believe that extensive and intensive coverage in the blogosphere at the time helped give the story detail and legs that took his sisters’s campaign for justices from the narrow confines of his East Belfast home, to the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis (party conference), and eventually to the Whitehouse. It was a story some of the interested parties would have preferred to have stayed local, and buried. The Dublin riots last year were captured brilliantly on Flickr, with dozens of citizen photographers on hand to provide evidence that quickly disabused the hastily assembled mainstream journalistic impression that the rioters were both politically organized and large in number. It demonstrated the sheer richness of content available online, and was one of the first events that began to draw the tiny Irish political blogosphere together. Accordingly Irish online discourse has tended to cluster around single big tent sites, like my own blog Slugger O’Toole in Northern Ireland and a decidedly non blog forum, politics.ie, in the


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Republic. But the Irish General Election probably made people aware of one another more than actually galvanised a readership and, at last, gave the blogosphere a taste of the kind of mass audiences routinely drummed up by the mainstream media. One bespoke site, Irishelection.com saw its audience, usually in the low thousands per day, spike at some 100,000 visits on a single day knocking most of its mainstream rivals for six. They used Twitter to deliver news and results to watchers around the world for free, and had voice and text reports from count centres from all around the country. It has also played a role in highlighting the phenomenon in the mainstream. Although three of the most useful new blogs came from national journalists. Ireland, with its traditional predilection for clientism and populism, faces a modern world that is becoming unremittingly complex, and a population that is also growing, both in numbers and complexity. The blogosphere has a capacity to generate powerful and cogent analyses through the collective sharing of facts, sifting evidence and generation of relevant expert opinion in ways that mainstream media institutions cannot compete with: and, perhaps, in ways that mainstream politicians would rather they didn’t. As we go to print, the controversy over the decision of a newly privatized Aer Lingus to switch operations from Shannon to Belfast is being written about much more coherently online than in any of the country’s print or broadcast media. In indicates that the blogosphere has the capacity to inflect a serious note into Irish politics. It’s surely time to step up a gear – and put our politicians on their mettle by rigorously testing them on what they actually do, rather than what they say they are going to do.

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Paul Linford http://paullinford.blogspot.com

Whether it’s a ground-breaking new band, an up-and-coming avant garde painter, or just the latest technological craze, there is always a tendency among groups of people who have discovered something new to want to keep it to themselves, to resent those Johnny-come-latelies who seek to get in on the act and jump aboard the rolling bandwagon. That was, by and large, the reaction among internet political bloggers when, during the course of 2006, the UK’s national press and major broadcasting organisations belatedly woke up to the emergence of the new blogging phenomenon. They were pejoratively dubbed “old media,” “mainstream media,” and worse of all, the “dead tree press.” They represented the smug, complacent old elite, the handing down of received wisdom from on high, the stifling of true debate in the name of bogus consensus, the past. Bloggers, on the other hand, were the future, the pioneers of a new, postmodernist style of political journalism in which there was no truth, only opinion, and in which the views of Joe and Joanna Bloggs were as intrinsically valid as those of the most highly-paid political pundits in the land. Thankfully for me, perhaps, I had by then left full-time journalism for the world of digital publishing, and although I continued to supplement my main income by writing political columns for various regional newspapers, the blogosphere tended to treat me from the start as one of its own. But for other, better-known figures from the world of political


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journalism, it was a different story. The Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh, the most influential “dead tree” lobby hack of the past 25 years, was deservedly ridiculed after his blog, launched in a fanfare of hype as “The Blog the Politicians Fear,” was updated only a couple of times before it swiftly died a death. More enduring, but equally contentious was The Guardian’s attempt to capture the zeitgeist with the launch of its uber-blog “Comment is Free,” which sought to corral the best of the blogosphere and its almost infinite range of opinions under the alreadyflourishing Guardian Unlimited brand. It has performed a valuable function in providing a forum for people to interact with Guardian columnists and other guest writers, but its claims to blog-dom have always been hotly contested for instance it still does not link out to other blogs and is too diverse to possess a true personality of its own. But such developments were really only one relatively small facet of a much larger commercial game that is still ongoing – the reorientation of the newspaper publishing industry as it seeks to diversify away from print and respond to the fact that much of its business is now migrating online. It wasn’t just blogging that suddenly became the flavour of the month. Newspapers and broadcasters also enthusiastically embraced podcasting, vodcasting, and other new technological gimmickry, while more and more news was being published on the web before it appeared in print. In other words, the gamekeepers of the dead tree press needed to turn poachers simply to remain competitive in the new 24-hour news environment – but at the same time, some of the poachers of the blogging world have effectively turned gamekeepers as the profile and importance of the blogosphere has increased. It might have been pistols at dawn to begin with - but the story

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of the relationship between political blogging and political journalism, over the past 12 months in particular, has been one of gradual and irresistible convergence. So if Trevor Kavanagh was to blogging what Alastair Campbell was to objective truth, the BBC’s Nick Robinson was always a different kettle of fish, using his blog not so much to rehash his on-air prognostications as to amplify them, earning a reputation for a time across the blogosphere as the only MSM blogger worth reading. Robinson’s success as a journalist blogger has been emulated in recent months by the Daily Mail’s Benedict Brogan, one of the youngest of the national daily political editors yet already regarded by his peers as one of the outstanding political journalists of his generation. Brogan is not an old-fashioned story-getter in the sense that, say, Kavanagh or his Mail on Sunday counterpart Simon Walters obviously are, but he does have an instinctive feel for what constitutes an important political story, and it is this quality which makes him such a good blogger. As a politics junkie – you don’t get where he is without being one – he is also fascinated by the kind of detail that would not necessarily be of interest to general Mail readers, using his blog, like Robinson, as a sort of “Politics Plus” channel for a more specialist political readership. But at the same time as some of the leading political journalists have been getting into blogging, some of the leading political bloggers have become steadily absorbed into the journalistic mainstream, reflecting their increasingly high profile in the media generally. Blogs such as Iain Dale’s Diary, Guido Fawkes, Political Betting and ConservativeHome are now regarded as primary political news sources, and are reputedly read by most Lobby journalists and MPs.


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You could make a respectable argument that their authors are now more influential media figures than, say, the political editor of the News of the World, and indeed The Guardian already has done, recently listing Guido in its media Top 100 “Power List” alongside national newspaper editors and proprietors. As if to emphasise the fact that the old demarcation lines are now becoming increasingly blurred, the man behind the Guido mask, Paul Staines, has applied for a Lobby pass, while Dale has been given a column in the Daily Telegraph to complement his regular slots as a TV pundit. Even the government, it seems, is now treating blogs as an extension of the mainstream political media. As the Financial Times reported last month, the COI’s Media Monitoring Unit is now considering how to add blogs to its regular summaries of government coverage in mainstream press or television. The FT itself acknowledged that the move reflects “the growing media profile of the format and the fact some individual bloggers are moving from niche self-publishers to establishment opinionformers.” Clarence Mitchell, director of the Media Monitoring Unit, was quoted as saying that although there was debate about the objectivity of some bloggers, several of them were taken “increasingly seriously” within government. In this context, it is perhaps significant that most of the leading political bloggers – those most in danger of becoming “establishment opinion formers” - are people who had a pre-existing political commitment or background which had already taken them within the orbit of the Westminster Village. So for instance Iain Dale has in his various incarnations been Chief of Staff to David Davis, a Conservative parliamentary candidate, and, before that, the proprietor of a bookshop known to,

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and at some time or another regularly patronised by virtually everyone in Westminster. Likewise, long before he launched the Guido Fawkes blog, Paul Staines was a well-connected figure within libertarian right circles, supplying jokes for Mrs Thatcher’s speeches, and even working for the Iron Lady’s favourite fixer, David Hart, who, with the help of MI5, fixed the miners good and proper in 1984-5. The leading left-of-centre bloggers were, if anything, even more obviously on the inside track. Recess Monkey’s Alex Hilton was a Labour candidate, Tom Watson an actual Labour MP, and Kerron Cross a long-serving MP’s researcher, allegedly the model for the central character in TV political soap Party Animals. And of course, probably a lot fewer people would have read my own blog had I not been in a position to furnish it with some of the insights gained from my time in the Lobby, a period during which I was able to observe the internal politics of New Labour at fairly close quarters. In this respect, the blogosphere mimics the world of journalism itself, where who you know is often more important than what you know and where the ability to construct networks is probably a more important skill than the ability to construct the perfect intro. Just occasionally, an original writing talent will emerge as if from nowhere – in blogging terms Chicken Yoghurt’s Justin McKeating springs to mind – but among the ranks of the leading bloggers, such meteors are very much the exception rather than the rule. Undoubtedly the single most talented writer thrown up by the entire blogging medium to date has been Rachel North, who began blogging as personal catharsis following the terrible events of 7/7 in which she found herself caught up - but her story was indeed truly exceptional.


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In truth, the political blogosphere is not nearly so diverse as its own hype would suggest. It has the potential to be, yes, but thus far, that potential has not been realised. So, for me, the blogging v journalism dichotomy was always something of a false opposition. Yes, they are different disciplines, and as Trevor Kavanagh proved, success in one does not necessarily engender success in the other, but essentially they are both part and parcel of that huge and amorphous beast, the modern media. Sure, it sometimes suits both sides to paint them as diametric opposites, as personified by the infamous clash between Paul Staines and the veteran former Guardian political editor Michael White on Newsnight, which “Sir Michael” is widely held to have shaded. But the relationship was always more complex than that. In actual fact the blogosphere has fed off the mainstream media from the earliest days of “weblogs” consisting of little more than long lists of links to interesting material that could be found online. In those days, relatively few blog posts did not, in some way, lead back to the MSM, but recently the trend has reversed, with newspaper diary columnists in particular regularly plundering the blogosphere for material – not all of it necessarily accurate. Journalism, like music, does not stand still. The political journalism of today bears absolutely no resemblance to the straight, low-key factual reporting of 40 years ago, an era in which the parliamentary correspondent reigned supreme while the lobby correspondent was regarded as a form of journalistic pond-life. A line was crossed, in my view, with the reporting of Prime Minister Jim Callaghan’s comments after returning from an international summit in Guadeloupe at the height of the Winter of Discontent in 1979, when he was asked what he thought of the “mounting chaos” at home.

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His complacent reply - “I don’t think other people would necessarily take the view that there is mounting chaos” – was famously transposed the following day on the front page of The Sun as “Crisis? What Crisis?” That, of course, was an interpretation rather than a quote – but the episode exemplified that it had become fair game to report such interpretation as fact. Much of the political journalism of today – and I have been as guilty of it as anyone – is built on that pretext. Why the history lesson? Well, it’s simply to demonstrate that journalism is a constantly evolving trade, and will evolve again as a result of the need to embrace new technologies and meet new commercial challenges. At the same time blogging, too, will have to change and adapt. It is particularly vital, if the blogosphere is not to degenerate into a right-wing mutual admiration society, that the left gets its collective act together, and produces a blog that can rival Dale and Guido for influence. But just as the best political bloggers, like Dale, will increasingly become seen as important journalistic figures, the best political journalists, like Brogan, will increasingly embrace blogging. Indeed it would not surprise me if, in five years’ time, much of Ben Brogan’s output as political editor of the Daily Mail was online. Thus, as in music, and as in art, do new departures eventually become assimilated by the mainstream, while simultaneously ensuring that the mainstream itself is also changed beyond recognition.


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Free blogging can be expensive… Phil Dilks FAIR DEAL PHIL: http://fairdealphil.blogspot.com

We blog because we can. It’s free and easy: An open platform for anyone and everyone to publish, with the offer of instant feedback and dialogue at the click of the keyboard. It’s anonymous if you choose: or a chance to become better known - a wonderful new democratic freedom, a fresh voice for the silent majority. There are no traditional deadlines, yet political stories often break first on blogs at every level. My local media occasionally pick up a story and run it direct from my blog. As a local councillor, I started blogging to sound off on local issues and invite comment from I represent. Sadly, I’m still the lone blogger of Lincolnshire County Council, as none of my 76 fellow councillors have yet to take the plunge. Go on, you know you want to. Blogging is, above all else, great fun. But there are downsides. For instance, the scourge of the so-called ‘flamers’ can force even the thickest-skinned to wonder if blogging is worth the candle. Don’t let them put you off and don’t get in the gutter with them: Treat them with the contempt they deserve. Ignore if you can, try a polite riposte, and if necessary switch them off via your monitoring button. Until recently, I allowed all comments including childish namecalling (and the even more childish cut-and-paste chunks of the Tory manifesto!). After all, if I can’t deal with a degree of abuse and hostile comments, why do I stand as a local councillor..?

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That is not to excuse the venom which spews from cowardly flamers. I’m sure if we were to meet face to face (no thanks), most would not be half so ‘brave’ or rude. Reluctantly I resorted to monitoring to filter out a series of libellous comments from the same author. His reaction was to claim victory in proving I was an anti-free-speech Stalinist! Then he disappeared. I might turn the monitor button off and go back to open house. Then again, flamers turn sensible commenters away, so monitoring maybe a small price to pay. Robust debate has to be healthy, but pointless abusers do blogging no favours: so let’s all shut them out now. Flamers don’t seem bright enough to realise the apparent anonymity they hide behind is superficial: It’s relatively easy to track down the culprits. If I can do it, anyone can. So flamers be warned. A few weeks after I started blogging, I was hit by a life-changing incident that went way beyond flaming. In February, 2006, the Mail on Sunday published a totally untrue allegation in their newspaper - and on their website - that I had kicked two young girls in a busy Newcastle street. The false allegations were made by a political blogger as part of an equally untrue ‘expose’ about a national Labour politician.


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Bloggers from the hard-left and bloggers from the right could smell an easy hit. Some stupidly re-published every false word as if it were true. Others published the link to the Mail on Sunday story with a ‘have a look at this’ tag. One hard-left blogger noted that a leading Tory blogger had missed out the libellous allegations against me when posting the story: ‘probably because it is so defamatory’. He then regurgitated every word ‘because I read it in good faith’. Er, no legal defence m’lud. Guilty of defamation. He had no defence either with his later lame excuse that ‘this is only a blog’. In law, blogs are no different to any other form of publishing. Any blogger linking to a libellous article - even with no comment - is guilty of ‘publishing to a third party’ and should expect to face hugely expensive and damaging litigation in the High Court. I decided not to seek compensation from bloggers, but confined my legal proceedings against the Mail on Sunday as principal publishers – and the writer of the untrue allegations. Thankfully, his blog disappeared soon after my lawyers issued legal proceedings, but it was nine months before I was vindicated in the High Court. In November, both defendants admitted there was no truth in their allegations. I achieved everything I sought including substantial damages and legal costs. But what I most wanted – and all I originally asked for – was recognition that I was not a kicker of young girls. It was a huge relief to hear the Mail on Sunday’s apology read out before Mr Justice Eady and then see it printed in their paper. But while February’s offending Mail on Sunday had long been discarded chip paper, I was still being constantly libelled on the blogosphere. Google my name and the proven libellous words popped up time and again to haunt me. I had ensured that as part of the settlement, the Mail on Sunday

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published their apology in full on their website. I then contacted the blogs which still carried the libel. Knowing I had already won against a national newspaper, most quickly removed it from their sites. The awkward one was the blogger who claimed he published ‘in good faith’. Eventually, even he erased his original post . He wrote:

‘I…apologise to Phil Dilks for any distress, upset, etc caused by my printing the Mail’s story (for which he received damages). I acknowledged at the time that the story was both unlikely and defamatory, and I should have been sensible enough therefore, not to reproduce it.’ As bloggers, we all have a responsibility to stay within the law. The harsh truth is that if a defamatory statement appears on your blog - even as an anonymous comment you didn’t moderate - the law will hold you to account as publisher. I’m already having second thoughts about turning off the moderation button. I’ve just discovered a comment from months ago I hadn’t noticed before. On an innocuous post, an anonymous commenter has deviously cut and pasted the very words I went to the High Court to expunge. My litigation succeeded. Yet the offending words are back. And this time, I am the publisher! So bloggers beware. Next time it could be you!


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Glossary Compiled from the blog glossaries at www.whatis.com, www.netlingo.com and www.quickonlinetips.com Anonoblog: A blog maintained by an anonymous author, often under a pseudonym or pen name. Synonyms include anonyblog, faux blog and ghostblog. Archives: A collection of all your posts on one page. Can be categorized by month etc. Astroturfing: Astroturfing is the artificial creation of a grassroots buzz for a product or service. Astroturfing has a negative connotation, primarily because disreputable marketers have used deceptive tactics to build their buzz by taking advantage of the anonymity the Internet provides. Atom: Atom is a machine-readable XML-based web syndication format which allows users to subscribe to blogs and other web content subject to frequent updating. This XML file may be called an Atom feed, webfeed, Atom stream or Atom channel. Audioblog: A blog where the blogger posts recordings of voice, music or other audio content, often with textual annotation to identify the content for indexing. Barking moonbat: Negative term describing someone as being at the far edge of whatever ideology he or she is advocating. Shorthand for crazy. Often put opposite "wingnuts" on the ideological spectrum. (Coined by Perry de Havilland of Samizdata.)

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Biz Blog: A blog owned and operated by a business or corporation. Blacklist: Lists of URLs identified as spam URLs and therefore eliminated from comments and trackbacks on a blog. Blargon: Blogging slang. What this glossary contains. (blog + jargon) (Coined by William Safire.) Blaudience: The audience of a blog. Blawg: A blog about the law, often written by a law professor, law student, law review or lawyer. Bleg: 1. A blog or blog post consisting of a request to readers of the blog for ideas, donations, commentary or other content; 2. To ask for contributions or feedback using a blog or blog post as a venue. Blego: The self-worth of a blogger, as measured by the popularity of their blog. (blog + ego) Blinking: Also called b-linking or b'linking. This is a synonym of blog hopping, or moving from blog to blog by clicking on the links on the page, often links found on the sidebar. Blog: 1. A blog, or web log, is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs are defined by their format: a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog. Topics sometimes include brief philosophical musings, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and


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links to other sites the author favors, especially those that support a point being made on a post; 2. To maintain a blog by posting text, links, images or other content, often using blogging software. Blog ecosystem: A map of the relationships between different blogs online, similar to mapping trophic levels or interrelationships in nature. Blog client: An application that allows a blogger to post, edit, format and perform a variety of functions for a blog or blogs without launching a browser. Synonym of blogging client. Blog Digest: A blog whose purpose is to summarize, and often comment upon, other blogs daily. Blog feed: The XML-based file into which blog hosting software embeds a machine-readable version of a blog to allow it to be syndicated for distribution, often through RSS and atom. Blog hopping: To follow links from one blog entry to another, with related side-trips to various articles, sites, discussion forums, and more. See "blinking." Blog pyramid: The practice of smaller blogs contacting more widely read blogs to encourage them to take up a story they have discovered. Blog site: The location of a blog online, indicated by its URL. This may be a dedicated domain, like instapundit.com, a subdomain, like techtargetnews.blogspot.com, or embedded within a web site, like http://www.gillin.com/blog. Sometimes confused with "blogsite."

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Blog voyeur: A reader of blogs who has no blog of his or her own. See also "lurker." Blogathy: When a blogger ceases to care about posting on a blog. (blog + apathy) BlogDay: August 31st. Bloggers worldwide post an annual recommendation of 5 new blogs. The day is intended for bloggers to highlight other blogs that differ from their own creations in terms of culture, viewpoint, design or political view or affiliation. Blogebrity: 1. Somone who is famous for blogging. See "Dooced."; 2. An online project that created a blog, of the same name, that proposed to ranking of other blogs by popularity and launch a magazine. The blog was, in fact, an entry in a competition to discover which meme could create the most web traffic without the use of advertising. Blogerati: 1. The collective blogging intelligentsia, commonly understood as being the most influential and highly trafficked bloggers online by page rank and the effect of link traffic; 2. The most intellectually hefty subsection of this group. Blogger: 1. A person who creates and posts to a blog. Synonym of weblogger, though the latter is infrequently used; 2. Blogger.com, a popular blog hosting web site, acquired and run currently by Google. Bloggerel: An opinion posted on a blog that has previously been repeated many times, usually ad nauseum. (blog + doggerel)


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Blogistan: Used interchangably with blogosphere, though more often applied to warblogs or milblogs. Blognoscenti: Bloggers who are especially knowledgable about the blogosphere, blogging, or their particular blogging subject area. (blog + cognoscenti) Blogoholic: A blogger addicted to blogging, to such a large extent that it detracts from other areas of the blogger's life. Blogorific: Something the blogger finds wonderful. Synonyms include blogerific and blogtastic. (blog + terrific) Blogorhhea: Excessive and overly verbose posting on a blog, often unedited in a stream of consciousness style. (blog + logorrhea) Blogosphere: The collective content of the blogs worldwide, taken as whole. The term may also refer to the subculture of the community as well, referring to the social network that the interrelationships that bloggers have with one another beyond the technical network itself. Synonyms include blogspace, blogistan, and blogoverse. (Coined by William T. Quick.) Blogroach: A commenter on a blog who obnoxiously disagrees with any and everything posted, as rudely as is possible. Blogroll: 1. A list of blogs, usually placed in the sidebar of a blog, that reads as a list of recommendations by the blogger of other blogs. Often indicative of the political affiliations of a blogger, these lists may also include many other kinds of rec-

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ommended media, including newspapers, journals, books or even companies. 2. Software that manages this list of sites for the blogger, notably Blogrolling.com; 3. To add a blog to a blogroll. Blogsite: A Web site that combines blog feeds from a number of different sources, including non-blog sources. Blogspot: Hosting service for blogs operated by Blogger.com, which in turn is run by Google. Blogstipation: 1. The condition of being unable to thinking of anything to post on a blog; 2. The state of being unable to post to a blog because the hosting service is unavailable. Blogstorm: A large spike in activity, in terms of posting in the blogosphere, centering around a particular subject or controversy, which can be either online or offline. Synonym of blog swarm. Commenter: One who leaves a comment on a blog. Comment Spam: Spam posted in the comment section of blogs, usually consisting of a few lines of text (usually unrelated to the post) and a link, often to a splog. These comments are almost always posted by spambots crawling the blogosphere. The links posted elevate the splog's place in search engine rankings and may also send unwitting users to sites that install adware, spyware or malware onto the browser's PC. Many blogging services now offer character recognition authorization or registration for comments that prevents posting of these comments. Also called "spomments."


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Creative Commons: Licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors to offer a voluntary "some rights reserved" approach. Crisis Blog: A blog specifically created to respond to a public relations crisis for an organization. Natural disasters like Katrina or the Indonesian tsunami have also spawned similar crisis blogs, expanding the definition. Dashboard: When you login to your blogging account, it is the first screen with all controls, tools and functions. Del.icio.us: 1. The social bookmarking site where users can collectively tag favorite links; 2. To be "del.icio.used" is to be tagged as popular. Trying to create popular content can be described as "deliciousing." Dooced: To have lost a job because of entries posted to a blog. (Coined by and because of, Heather B. Armstrong.) Down thread: Referring to a post made earlier than a comment or post that you are reading, within the same section. Fisk: To deconstruct an article or post point by point, usually in such a way as to point out poorly made arguments or sloppy factchecking. Originates in the name of journalist Robert Fisk, who has been targeted in this way within the blogosphere many times. Flame: To post a hostile comment, often directed personally to another commenter or blogger and generally deliberately inflammatory or insulting. A flame is generally not meant to be construc-

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tive, add to a discussion or persuade other commenters of a position. The term comes from long usage in the context of newsgroups or discussion lists. Flame war: A series of flames going back and forth on a blog, usually within the comment section, often going on for pages and bearing little relation to whatever topic was on the thread the flames are posted upon. Footer: The most bottom part of the blog, usually listing navigation and copyright statements Google bomb: To insert words or phrases into blogs, often as many as possible, with the intention of increase the page ranking of the words or terms on Google search results. Group blog: A blog maintained by two or more bloggers. Synonym of groupblog. Header: The topmost part of the blog usually listing the blog title. Index page: The front page of a blog. Link: Using hypertext, a link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another. Link love: To post a link to another blog without being paid or solicited to do so. Link orgy: When a blog is linked to by many sites within a short period of time.


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Link rot: The phenomenon whereby links from posts or blogrolls increasingly go dead as time passes. Link whore: Any blogger, regardless of gender, who makes an extraordinary effort to get other blogs to link his or her blog or post. Also called a "Link slut." Lurker: A reader of a blog who never comments or otherwise indicates his or her presence. Adopted from the same usage in newsgroups or BBSs. Meme: An idea passed down from one human generation to another. The cultural equivalent of a gene, the basic element of biological inheritance. Amongst bloggers, meme refers to an idea passed from one blog to another, cascading throughout the blogosphere. Metablog: To blog about blogging. Moblog: 1. A blog that is maintained by using a mobile device such as a PDA (personal digital assistant) or cell phone. Currently, the most common way to update a moblog is by uploading files from a camera phone to an established blog; 2. To blog by using such a mobile device. MSM: Mainstream Media Netiquette: Netiquette is etiquette on the Internet. Since the Internet changes rapidly, its netiquette does too, but it's still usually based on the Golden Rule. The need for a sense of netiquette arises mostly when sending or distributing e-mail, posting on Usenet groups, chatting and blogging.

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Newbie: Term, potentially derisive, applied to someone new to a discussion or blog, often after the person demonstrated unfamiliarity with a concept or standards of communication of the forum. Also called "noob" or "noobie." Open Thread: A thread whose topic is open for definition by those posting to it. Common to blogs with large readerships that visit to exchange views, as opposed to focus exclusively on posts from the blogger. Permalink: The unique URL of a single post on a blog, used when anyone wants to link specifically to a post rather than to the most recently updated page of a blog. Ping: In the context of blogging, a ping is the alert in the TrackBack system that notifies the original poster of a blog post when someone else writes an entry concerning the original post. Plugins: Small files that add improved functionality and new features. Wordpress plugins can greatly improve a blog's usage and interactivity. Podcasting: Podcasting is the preparation and distribution of audio (and possibly other media) files for download to digital music or multimedia players, such as the iPod. Post: A single unit of content on a blog, usually consisting of at least a title and text. A blog is made up of a collection of posts. Post scheduling: Using blogging software to write posts and schedule them for publishing in the future.


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RSS: Really Simple Syndication. A method of describing news or other Web content that is available for "feeding" (distribution or syndication) from an online publisher to Web users. RSS Aggregator: Software or service that automatically check a series of RSS feeds for new items on an ongoing basis, making it possible to keep track of changes to multiple Web in real time through one application. RSS Feed: The file that contains the latest updates to an RSSequipped page. Reciprocal Link: When one blogger exchanges links on its blogroll with another blogger's blogroll. Repost: To post a comment or post that had already been posted, either within a thread or on another blog. Generally frowned upon, especially when the content is from another blogger's site. Sidebar: One or more columns generally found on the side of most blogs, usually containing a profile of the blogger, blogroll, advertising, Flickr feeds or other plug-ins. Sideblog: A smaller blog usually placed in the sidebar of a blog. A blog within a blog. Sideblog.com provides this service. Simultaneous Blogasm: What happens when two bloggers post the same thought at the same time. Skins: One of a set of pre-designed templates for a blog, giving it a customized set of images, fonts and layouts.

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Skypecasting: The practice of using Skype, the VoIP telephony service, to create podcasts, vidcasts and blog entries. Slashdotted: When a Web site receives a huge amount of temporary traffic due to a link being posted on slashdot.org. The phenomenon can slow Web servers or even take sites temporarily offline by exceeding the allotted bandwidth for the site. The term can be used as shorthand for traffic surges due to posts on other extremely popular blogs, including Instapundit, BoingBoing, The Huffington Post or DailyKos. Spambot: A program designed to collect, or harvest, e-mail addresses from the Internet in order to build mailing lists for sending unsolicited e-mail, also known as spam. Tag: A generic term for a language element descriptor, often used in blogs to identify the type of content that makes up a particular post. Tag cloud: Visual representations of tags or keywords used in a blog. Tag clouds may be used to organize content and can be presented in boldface to distinguish them from other text. Template: The blog presentation design, which includes the blog's HTML code. Thread: A series of posts on a specific topic. Trackback: A protocol that allows a blogger to link to post, often on other blogs, that relate to a selected subject. Blogging software that supports Trackback includes a "TrackBack URL" with each post that displays other blogs that have linked to it.


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Troll: A contributor to an online discussion whose purpose in posting is primarily to generate intense debate, often with intentionally inflammatory rhetoric. Troll literally "troll," a form of fishing, for reaction from contributors to the forum with the intention of stimulating a flamewar. Typepad: A blogging platform which charges fees for hosting a blog. Vlog: A vlog (or video blog) is a blog that contains video content. The small, but growing, segment of the blogosphere devoted to vlogs is sometimes referred to as the vlogosphere. Vlogger: One who maintains a vlog. Weblog: Longer, alternative form of blog. Wordpress: Blogging platform which enables users to set up a blog free of charge. It offers bespoke design and free hosting.

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Who’s who in political blogging Donal Blaney BLANEY'S BLARNEY: http://donalblaney.blogspot.com

Donal Blaney, 33, is the editor of Blaney's Blarney and the YBF Blog. Blaney's Blarney contains musings from a frustrated proAmerican, smaller government Thatcherite that tie in to Donal’s daily appearances as host of “Up Front” on 18DoughtyStreet.com (weeknights at 7pm). They include his irreverent view as to who is that particular day’s Hero and Zero, as well as seeing Donal give his opinionated and biting “Two Cents” every evening. The YBF Blog is tied to the Young Britons’ Foundation (www.ybf.org.uk), of which Donal is the Chief Executive and cofounder. YBF promotes conservatism in schools, assists conservatives in universities, trains young activists and then helps place them in the media, politics and academia. Donal is qualified as a solicitor. He is a former national chairman of Conservative Future, a former local councillor in Fulham and is an avid supporter of Liverpool FC. He is married to Marci, a former US Army reservist who served in Iraq. They have homes in Kent and Florida.

Paul Burgin MARS HILL: http://paulburgin.blogspot.com

Throughout his twenties Paul Burgin was a frustrated man. Fame and fortune were not so much his aims, but as a by-product of the success he wanted. One area of his life that has become a success


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and where he has made whatever useful miniscule contribution to the world of politics has been through blogging, which is a surprise to him as much as anyone else. He started his blog in 2005, originally with a vague view of it being a campaign blog for any future local council elections. But Paul’s blog, known as Mars Hill, became something a bit different. It became a blog about politics and, well, anything and everything that interested Paul to be honest. He now tends to get readers in triple figures and has had more than 30,000 hits. Mars Hill has also been quoted in The Guardian and Paul himself has occasionally appeared on the internet TV channel, 18 Doughty Street. The high point of his blog? Well, aside from getting hundreds of hits simply by mentioning the last episode of Life On Mars and getting invited to things, Paul is simply happy to have a viable hobby and is pleased that people are prepared to read the political views of a small-time Labour Party activist who is not in the Westminster in-crowd.

Jonathan Calder LIBERAL ENGLAND: http://liberalengland.blogspot.com

Jonathan Calder began writing Liberal England in March 2004, though he wrote a blog on behalf of Susan Kramer’s cat Whittington during the first London Mayoral election in 2000. His creation Lord Bonkers, who claims to have been Liberal MP for Rutland South-West 1906-10 and has written a diary for Liberator magazine since 1990, has long had his own website too. Liberal England carries news, gossip and commentary about the Liberal Democrats and British politics more generally, including the weekly House Points column Jonathan writes for Liberal Democrat News. But it also reflects his interest in old British films,

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local newspaper stories, the children’s books of Malcolm Saville and much else. Outside blogging, Jonathan has been a local councillor, a contributor to speeches by Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy, and a member of the Liberal Democrats’ federal policy committee. He has written for the Guardian, Open Mind and many other publications and used to play chess for Leicestershire. He holds a BA in Philosophy from York and a Masters in Victorian Studies from the University of Leicester. Previously an employee of Golden Wonder Ltd and a member of its Pot Noodle tasting panel, he now works for the British Psychological Society.

Ed Clarke EDLAND: http://edclarke.blogspot.com

Ed came to blogging relatively recently. Having admired the works of Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale he decided to make a stab of writing his own blog. The blog started fitfully, not easily finding its own niche. The themes have settled down several months in and while rarely news-breaking, the blog provides a fresh perspective on current issues and shines a light into lower profile areas of debate. Ed is a champion of localism and open and accountable democracy. He is a Cameron Conservative but is not afraid to make constructive criticism of whoever he thinks appropriate. He argues for individual freedom, local democracy and a lessening of the power of the state, but also for the need to provide universal, high quality public services. He regards himself as a geek in a dressing gown rather than part of the blogging elite and is genuinely surprised that people return to his blog a second time. Ed is an evangelical Londoner in his late 20s.


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Archbishop Cranmer http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com

Archbishop Cranmer takes as his inspiration the words of Sir Humphrey Appleby: ‘It’s interesting,’ he observes, ‘that nowadays politicians want to talk about moral issues, and bishops want to talk politics.’ It is the fusion of the two in public life, and the necessity for a wider understanding of their complex symbiosis, which leads His Grace to write on very sensitive issues ‘with moral seriousness and intellectual rigour’. Cranmer is an Oxbridge-educated theologian who, in the religious realm, is a member of the Church of England, and in the political realm, a member of the Conservative Party. Since the Church of England long ceased to be the Conservative Party at prayer, he holds the two ‘in tension’. He has written on issues of Anglican thought and his works have been published. His forays into the political realm have occasionally landed him in hot water, and these have been known to result in martyrdom which appeared terminal. But, never one to doubt the reality of resurrection, he lives on ‘to investigate and expose religio-politics or politico-religiosity, whatever the cost…’ His Grace is 518 years old.

Kerron Cross VOICE OF THE DELECTABLE LEFT: http://kerroncross.blogspot.com

Kerron James Cross (born August 21, 1977) is a Labour politician and blogger. His blog was rated as the top Labour blog by commentator Iain Dale in 2006.

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Kerron was candidate for South West Hertfordshire at the May 2005 general election in the United Kingdom. He is a member of the Christian Socialist Movement national executive and was elected Vice Chair of the Movement in 2007. He is a long-serving Parliamentary research assistant for Andy Reed MP. Kerron is a published writer, with political commentary in such publications such as the Salvation Army's War Cry and the Christian Socialist magazine and he had a book of sketches/drama published in 2001, Drama , Verse, Sketches 2 with Steve Tilley. However, he is perhaps best known for running a blog called The Voice of the Delectable Left, where he is known for his attacks on the Liberal Democrats, political gossip, general observations on football (particularly Watford FC), and life as a Parliamentary Researcher. He is also a supporter of Gordon Brown and was a critic of the Iraq War. He is known not to be a great fan of John McDonnell, sometimes having fights with his supporters on his blog. In the 2005 election in South West Hertfordshire, Cross received 10,466 votes (20.9% of the total vote), a swing of 6.1% against Labour, and was placed third behind the Liberal Democrats. Cross is a Labour Co-operative district councillor in South Oxhey, Hertfordshire - and was originally elected to this post in June 2002 - he is currently Leader of the Labour Group on Three Rivers District Council. Before being elected to Three Rivers District Council he was Vice Chair of Croxley Green Parish Council, Hertfordshire. In 2006 he was elected as Chair of the Herts & Home Counties Co-operative Party. Kerron Cross was educated at Anglia Ruskin University.


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Iain Dale IAIN DALE’S DIARY: http://iaindale.blogspot.com

Iain Dale is the Chief Anchor of the world’s first political internet TV station, 18 Doughty Street Talk TV. He is also one of Britain’s leading political bloggers and a regular pundit on radio and TV. Iain stood as a Conservative candidate at the last election and was Chief of Staff to the Rt Hon David Davis MP in the recent Conservative Party leadership election. He is a former political lobbyist, financial journalist and publisher and was the founder of Politico’s Bookstore. He writes a fortnightly column in the Daily Telegraph and the Eastern Daily Press. Iain started his blog in the spring of 2002, since when it has undergone several incarnations. It started life as Mr Dale’s Diary but when he was selected as a parliamentary candidate he changed it to Iain Dale’s Diary. He gave up blogging during his period working for David Davis, but in December 2005 he revived the blog, since when it has become one of the most widely read and influential blogs in the UK, with more than 10,000 readers a day and getting on for half a million page views a month.

Tim Daw AN ENGLISHMAN’S CASTLE: http://anenglishmanscastle.com

The Englishman is the accidental nom-de-plume of Tim Daw, yet another forty something public school Tim who blogs. With an unaccountable optimism in his own ability, honed by his University days idling by the Cherwell, he embarked on a life of self-employment. Having segued from flogging pesticides to founding the first ISP in Wiltshire, a business he sensibly sold

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before his lack of any marketable skill became evident, he then founded another Internet Software company which managed to burn through several million dollars of a multinational oil company’s money without visible return. He has now retired to the safe fastness of his castle - in reality a small farmhouse - where he enjoys the freedom to fail to make a decent living however he chooses. He awakes early in the morning for the pleasure of making short sarcastic points on the madness of modern Britain. Occasionally when his palsied fingers and pickled brain allow, he attempts to make longer more reasoned posts, usually a sceptical look at the science behind environmentalism. He is proud to be an old fashioned Tory, not a modern conservative, but his Toryism is heavily seasoned with Austrian School libertarian laissez-faire strands and distrust of fancy foreign philosophies.

Mike Denham BURNING OUR MONEY: http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com

Mike Denham is an economist and ex-City fund manager. After degrees at Oxford and the LSE, he worked as a government economist for ten years, including a spell at HM Treasury during the late seventies and the early years of the Thatcher government. That experience gave him a very good understanding of what happens when governments are finally forced to confront economic realities. Twenty years in the City followed, managing assets for some of Britain’s largest pension funds and insurance companies, and continuing to take a close interest in the government’s fiscal and monetary policies. Now retired, he writes the Burning Our Money blog, focusing particularly on how politicians manage to waste so very much of our money. Mike is married, with two sons, and lives in Surrey.


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Chris Dillow STUMBLING & MUMBLING: http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com

Chris Dillow was a young Trotskyite who went to work in the City, on the basis that if he had to sell out, he might as well do so to the highest bidder. After almost 10 years, he tired of that and went into semi-retirement working for the Investors Chronicle. He never quite stopped being a Marxist, though he ceased to be a fanatic and dlislikes all forms of tribal politics. Despite his Oxford and City background, he regards himself as an outsider, and has a nasty combination of inverted and intellectual snobbery. He started blogging in 2004, partly to show off how clever he was, partly to work out what he still believes, and partly to show that economic literacy and leftist politics needn’t be incompatible. Most people think he has failed in all regards, but he doesn’t care about anyone’s opinion, even his own.

Andrew Ian Dodge DODGEBLOGIUM: http://andrewiandodge.com

Andrew Ian Dodge is a late thirty something writer, consultant and rocker. He married the lovely K.T. Dodge (aka the English actress Kim Benson) this year and is busy working on several writing projects with her including a trio of novels, lyrics/singing for their bands Growing Old Disgracefully (motto: Old Enough to Know Better, too Young to Care), Gryphon Rose plus K.T.’s solo career and at least one TV script. Andrew writes for TCS Daily and a monthly column for AsMaineGoes, has a weekly heavy rock music column for Blogcritics.com (as Marty Dodge), and has writ-

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ten a piece on the British music business for the Economic Resource Council (its most linked/downloaded ever). He has been approached by a major American think tank to write an American version of the paper. When the mood takes him he writes short stories in his Sage of Wales Cthulhu-mythos series. He recently produced and edited a campaign video for Dr Lee Rotherham, providing the music for the soundtrack and acting as a policy advisor. Dodgeblogium has been described as a “blogger who combines a taste for heavy metal music with a taste for heavy metal politics”...[Dennis Sewell - BBC Radio 4]

Mr Eugenides http://mreugenides.blogspot.com

Mr Eugenides is not, despite the pseudonym, Greek, but does have longstanding links with the country, which is one of the reasons for his choice of pen name. A native of Glasgow, he now finds himself living and working in Edinburgh, which for any true Glaswegian is a kind of living death, and perhaps this is partly responsible for the tone of his blog and his occasionally robust use of language. As a former world champion debater from Glasgow University’s noted Union debating society, the preferred method of attack is often short and sharp rather than careful and considered. The focus of the blog is mostly on UK politics, with attention also given to Scottish political developments (including a widely noted liveblog of May’s Holyrood elections), and the targets normally leftwing politicians and journalists. Recurrent themes include the slow ratcheting-up of government power and state intrusion into the private choices of individuals, and the hypocrisy and double-talk of


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politicians. Being a libertarian Tory in Scotland is a lonely business, and the battle against these trends is something of a rearguard action. Away from politics, interests include films, cookery, following his beloved Rangers, and testing the government’s guidelines on safe alcohol consumption.

Guido Fawkes http://www.order-order.com

Guido's blog was started in September 2004. The choice of the Guido avatar and character was deliberate, the thinking being that Guy Fawkes had high name recognition, a memorable “brand” and a reputation as the only man to enter parliament with honest intentions. The primary motivation was purely to make mischief at the expense of politicians and for the author's own self-gratification. At the time most political blogs, from the author's viewpoint, were earnest and serious. His intention was to create a more fun, gossipy and acerbic "anti-politics" form of commentary. Never having suffered from a lack of intellectual confidence, the adoption of tabloid news values was not embarrassing or accidental, it was a deliberate and necessary step towards becoming popular. The British blogosphere was at the time full of wannabee Telegraph and Guardian leader writers and a lot of “Fisking” - the tedious line-by-line critique of long boring articles in the form of an even longer, even more boring article. Guido set out to be sensationalist, Matt Drudge was an inspiration, Kelvin Mackenzie's Sun of the 80s was another. The camp, politically incorrect tone of the media / music / culture / whatever website, Popbitch is deliberately echoed. When media pundit

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Roy Greenslade described Guido's blog as “the bastard love-child of Popbitch and Kelvin Mackenzie”, Guido was proud of his parentage. Madame Popbitch herself contacted Guido to say she was proud of her offspring. Guido sees himself as a journalist, a campaigning journalist who publishes via a blog. He campaigns against political sleaze and hypocrisy. He doesn't believe in impartiality nor pretends to it. Guido has frequently broken stories that have gone on to dominate newspaper pages. He often gets stories out before broadcasters. The blog is read widely in the Westminster political village and in newsrooms. (Incidentally, people often ask for the reason Guido writes in the third person. It is because he is “in character”.) The blog was the Guardian's political commentary blog of the year and has won numerous new media awards Guido had never heard of before or in all likelihood will ever again. Guido regularly appears in those masturbatory annual lists of media movers and shakers. He pays no attention to them, but secretly always likes it when he is ranked higher than Nick Robinson.

Mick Fealty SLUGGER O’TOOLE: http://sluggerotoole.com

Mick is the award winning blogger behind Ireland's largest and most influential blog, Slugger O'Toole. In 2005, Slugger was mentioned as one of the 50 best things in the media that year. It is an unusual example of a cross community blog, drawing in opinion and audience from a range of political interest. Mick is also a visiting research associate at the Institute of Governance at Queens University, Belfast where he is researching


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new media and its effect on the way politics is conducted. In addition, he provides freelance consultancy for a range of government, voluntary and private sector institutions, in assembly and execution of strong web 2.0 strategies. Mick is co-author of the widely praised A Long Peace?, a study of the future of Northern Irish Unionism and Through Irish Eyes a research report focused on the changing attitudes in the Republic of Ireland towards the UK at large, which featured as part of an Irish Times leader on the day of its launch. He writes on Irish and British politics for the Guardian, the Irish Times and the Financial Times, and recently profiled Ian Paisley for Prospect magazine. In 2006, he covered the Conservative Party Conference for the Guardian's Comment is Free blog.

Daniel Finkelstein COMMENT CENTRAL: http://www.timesonline.typepad.com/comment/

Daniel Finkelstein can be found in The Times providing advice on football (experience - substitute in school under 15 B team for one cancelled match) and politics (experience - adviser in various landslide defeats and present in the room when the leaders of more than one political party resigned). His Comment Central blog was created after he noted of the Guardian’s really rather good Comment is Free site that while comment may be free, time isn’t. So readers might appreciate some edited highlights from the web. The site provides readers with a daily fix of op-eds from all the papers together with silly competitions, obsessive hobbyist political observations and Daniel’s own peculiarly annoying political views.

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James Forsyth SPECTATOR COFFEE HOUSE: http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse

I, along with other Spectator staffers, contribute to the magazine’s Coffee House blog, which launched this May. I write on British and American politics and, really, anything else that catches my fancy. The best thing about blogging is its immediacy and the whole process of thinking out loud, of finding out if what exercises you irritates others and if your snap judgements about something’s significance is right or not. For us, working in the heart of the Westminster Village, the reaction of our readers can sometimes acts as a much needed reality check. Blogs are changing the way the media views politics. Rarely a day goes by at The Spectator without us talking about something that has appeared on ConservativeHome, Iain Dale or one of our other daily reads. Before joining The Spectator I worked in Washington for four years at Foreign Policy magazine and it is fascinating to see how the British blogosphere is rapidly catching up with the American one in terms of both influence and quality. What is certain is that blogs are here to stay and that their importance will only grow in the coming months and years.

Gracchii WESTMINSTER WISDOM: http://gracchii.blogspot.com

I am doing a PhD in history at Cambridge - on the political thought of Oliver Cromwell’s army and its radical and democratic ideas - and I’m hopefully just about to submit the thesis. Whilst living for the last year in fear of submission and the viva I started


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a blog with a mate who has now dropped out of it called, rather pretentiously, Westminster Wisdom. It began as a fairly conventional political blog - but I ran out of ideas and now write about anything - from film to history, from Kazakhstan to Westminster - that takes my fancy. Normally everything has a vague political slant - particularly because exploring all those areas makes me think about the way that human beings relate to each other, which is obviously the subject of politics. Ultimately that’s the subject of politics and what keeps me personally interested in it. I have also penned pieces at BitsofNews.com, where I have just been appointed Associate Editor, and am their normal film reviewer as well as penning the odd piece on aids in Africa and the politics of Tajikistan. My own high point of blogging has been realising how ignorant I am of so much and learning a lot about things I don’t know about. That might be pious, but there it is.

James Graham QUAEQUAM: http://www.theliberati.net/quaequamblog/

Having cut his political teeth at university, James Graham became the twice-elected sabbatical Communications Officer for the Liberal Democrat Youth & Students before undertaking a short and inglorious career working for, and being an elected officer of, the LibDems in various roles. He is currently content to take a more back seat role in overt party politics. James originally started blogging in 2003, both fascinated and appalled by the potential of the medium. The main topics he writes on are economics (particularly intergenerational equity), the environment, political campaigning and the evils of national-

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ism (nat-baiting is a particular passion of his). A committed atheist with a degree in theology and religious studies, he also has a great interest in the growing culture wars between secularism and religious ideology. Finally, James is a discerning connoisseur of geek culture, with a particular focus on comics, cinema and television. Witheringly described once by fellow LibDem blogger Alex Wilcock as “crass, boorish and more a bruiser than blogger,” he is a frustrated essayist with a knack for polemic: his most popular articles tend to be rants while his think pieces go largely unread. Finally, he has a weakness for bad jokes, especially puns, and the dubious wonders of Photoshop.

Steve Green DAILY REFERENDUM: http://dailyreferendum.blogspot.com

Where to begin? I’ve been on this planet (some would disagree) for almost thirty eight years, sixteen of which I spent travelling the world as an engineer in the Royal Navy. I could recount stories of the many countries I visited on my blog, but I don’t think descriptions of the inside of bars would make for good reading. I’ve been a civilian for five years now, and it is during this time that I have become interested in politics. I’ll admit now, that even though I have been writing the Daily Referendum for about a year - I’m no great political mind. I’m learning about politics as I go along and I mainly write about subjects that have a social and economic impact on my family, friends and fellow countrymen. I started blogging out of frustration, feeling that the people no longer had any say in the running of this country. I was also in political limbo, not knowing which political party to support.


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I’ve always voted Labour in the past, but through a year of political blogging, I have come to realise that I made a mistake doing so in the last general election. In the last year I have become: a Conservative party member, a climate change sceptic, not too keen on the EU and a proponent of an English Parliament.

Neil Hepburn BEAU BO D’OR: http://www.bbdo.co.uk

Neil Hepburn is a Scot, born in Kirkuk, Iraq in the early sixties. Damaged goods from twenty years in the media industry, now trying to eke out a living creating images for various publications and websites. Recently involved in writing scripts for short animations. Won first and second places in the still image category of Channel 4’s first viral competition. His image of Kate Moss and Pete Doherty as Myra Hindley and Ian Brady (a comment on tabloid demonisation) was used to publicise the subsequent viral exhibition at the ICA. The image has now been ‘re-engineered’ and screenprinted by artist Russell Young, most famous for his Pig Portraits series of prints and the front cover of George Michael’s album ‘Faith’. Creates a weekly picture for the Channel 4 News website, has worked for Guardian Unlimited and had images appear in Hugo Rifkind’s column in The Times. Celibate by choice (of the UK’s female population) he awaits the time he encounters his perfect woman, led by an imperfect guide dog. Ignoring the obvious option of cosmetic surgery his main ambition is to sit in a Texan bar and cry into his beer while listening to Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle.

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Phil Hendren DIZZY THINKS: http://dizzythinks.net

In the real world, Dizzy is Politics graduate Phil Hendren. He is an active member of the Conservative Party and, he says, “very much an economic and social libertarian”. A professional IT geek, Phil works on the Internet which means he is almost permanently connected. When he isn’t blogging he is fiddling with computers or writing code to run on them. Phil doesn’t restrict himself to just blogging about politics and will often venture into technology and postings about the Internet phenomenon, but you can almost guarantee that when you visit his blog you will read something that you hadn’t already read elsewhere. “I go out of my way to write something new if I can. Comment on existing stories does get covered, but I prefer finding stories that others have yet to write about” he says. His blog - when Parliament is not in recess - tends to concern itself with reporting the daily goings-on of Government that the mainstream media either fail to or choose not to report.

James Higham NOURISHING OBSCURITY: http://nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com

Britblogger currently living in the former Soviet Union, James Higham nourishes the obscurity of his middle years after stints in various corners of the world as teacher, storeman, screen printer, gardener, prep school head, radio dj, sound & light crew, filmmaker, stage actor, often unrequited wooer of the ladies, drummer in a band, professor, consultant on trade protocol and other boring matters … plus blogger.


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Describing himself as “extremely moderate”, his blog was called “a little left field” by The Tin Drummer but Bryan Appleyard calls it “whimsical, amazing, vaguely Celtic.” Tom Paine says “his blog attempts something to which [he] would never aspire - a one-man magazine. [Higham’s] is a magpie mind and nothing human is alien to him.” The Tin Drummer claims Higham’s “prodigious work rate leaves most of us feeling like arthritic old stonemasons,” and Mr Eugenides opines: “If you haven’t visited James before he’s well worth a look. This blog covers an eclectic range of subject matter; just this week, he’s looked at fashion, Middle East politics, stolen Icelandic trees and the suicide rate at Renault factories. Never less than compelling, the best aspect of Nourishing Obscurity is that James will surprise you with something unexpected every single day. The Marxists want no truck with that, claiming he “embodies every bit of superstitious belief, ritual, taboo, violence, viciousness, exploitation, and ignorance of any creed known to man,” but he worries not. Founder member of Blogpower, that rollicking, rambunctious, rumbustious group attempting to champion the cause of the “good little blogger” with mixed results, you’ll find James Higham somewhere near the crossroads of Blogpower, Dale, Dillow, Devil’s Kitchen, Eugenides and Croydonian, then turn right.

Bishop Hill BISHOP HILL: http://bishophill.squarespace.com

Bishop Hill is an Englishman from Surrey who now lives in rural Scotland. From his home, and weather permitting, he can make out the slopes of the hill after which his blog is named. An accountant by training, he has made his living in various ways, but now earns a crust from the family business and from

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occasional dabblings in IT consultancy. His wife would like him to spend more time in gainful employment and less glued to a PC. She wonders if he might one day join the ranks of paid bloggers, but has thankfully so far refrained from holding her breath. Bishop Hill uses his blog as a refuge from the twin blights of work and television and as a way of interacting with interesting people from around the world. It is also useful for avoiding DIY and lawn-mowing.

Justin Hinchcliffe HUNTER & SHOOTER: http://hunterandshooter.blogspot.com

Justin Hinchcliffe is 26, works in administration and lives with James, his partner of seven years, who is a hospital doctor. He attended St. Augustine’s Church of England School and the College of North East London. University, says Justin, wasn’t for him. He first hit the headlines in 1995 when, as a fourteen year-old, attended his first party conference. Justin was brought up in Tottenham in a single-parent household and soon became a Tory after viewing the way Labour ran and ruined his local council, Haringey. He has appeared on local and national TV and radio stations, is never out of the local media and frequently contributes to ConservativeHome, where he enjoys taking on authoritarian Tories and generally “rattling cages”. His politics are firmly rooted in the ‘One Nation’ tradition and he is a supporter of the TRG and Conservative Group for Europe. He is also Chairman of Tottenham Conservatives and has stood on three occasions as a councillor – in London and Cambridge. His biggest political achievement to date, was to help get medication restored to Romanian children who where infected with HIV under Ceausescu’s regime. This was a pre-condition of Romanian entry into the EU!


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Justin began to blog late in 2006 and focuses, mainly, on local and national events and the hypocrisy, lies and dirty tactics of the LibDems. Outside of politics, Justin enjoys socialising with friends, fine wines, listening to all types of music, travelling, watching Eastenders and rescuing animals (he has two rescued guinea pigs and is a member of the Save the Pigeons in Trafalgar Square Group!)

Hoby HOBY: http://hobycartoons.blogspot.com

Hoby is a freelance cartoonist and illustrator. He set up Hobycartoons.com (www.hobycartoons.com) where, as well as his published illustration work, you can see his two cartoon strips, Melville and Road to Nowhere. He has illustrated many political books, most recently 500 of the Most Witty, Acerbic and Erudite Things Ever Said About Politics and The Big Red Book Of New Labour Sleaze for Iain Dale. His blog concentrates on Road to Nowhere, a political cartoon strip centred around the young staffers of a Conservative Member of Parliament (http://hobycartoons.blogspot.com). Here the cartoon strip has begun to comment more directly on the political blogosphere. Before concentrating fully on his cartooning career, he spent time working on Capitol Hill and as a researcher in Parliament.

Sunny Hundal PICKLED POLITICS: http://www.pickledpolitics.com

Sunny Hundal manages the group blog Pickled Politics. PP is described as a progressive-liberal group blog on British politics

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and current affairs. It focuses primarily on race, religion, environment, feminism and general left of centre issues/ideas. He is also founder of the think tank ‘New Generation Network’, inspired by discussions on his blog. He also runs an online magazine titled ‘Asians in Media’. As a journalist and commentator he has written for the Guardian, Independent, The Times, Metro and Financial Times on media, environment and race-related issues. Last year he was voted Guardian blogger of the year. He is also a passionate environmentalist and liberal.

Caroline Hunt http://carolinehunt.blogspot.com

Caroline Hunt is a blogger in the very niche market of female Conservative Future bloggers. She joined Conservative Future, the youth wing of the Conservative Party, while at Brunel University in 2001. Quickly rising to the thrilling heights of the Conservative Future National Executive team, she began to blog in order to keep CF members up to date with her progress. However more often than not her posts became details of her latest drinking exploits and descriptions of how painful the hangovers were. In the two years she’s been blogging Caroline has been a student, an MP’s caseworker, a property developer and now she works as a GP’s receptionist whilst trying to pursue a career as a history teacher. It could be said she has no clear career goals. Blogging these days consists mainly of meandering thoughts on gay rights, Big Brother, domestic politics, blogging and, of course, Conservative Future. She still finds time to mention her hangovers as well.


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Dr Bill Jones SKIPPER: http://skipper59.blogspot.com

After baby booming in Oswestry (1946), I lived in Wales before returning to Shropshire and attending the grammar school in Shrewsbury; then it was back to Wales to Aberystwyth University for an indulgent seven years. As captain of a postgraduate cricket team, I acquired the nickname ‘Skipper’. From there I did two years in Whitehall as an Administrative Class civil servant in the MOD. But, apart from organising the expedition which fixed a navigation beacon atop Rockall, I hated it and returned gratefully to the comfort zone of university by becoming Manchester’s extra-mural tutor in politics in 1972. After a book on Labour attitudes to Russia and a couple of textbooks I became Director of my department for five years but then succeeded in incurring a stroke whilst out jogging in 1992. Soon after this I retired from full-time work, not to mention jogging. Narrowly escaping death concentrates the mind rather well, so becoming a blogger was only a matter of time. Now semi-retired and well recovered, I teach British politics at Manchester and Liverpool Hope Universities and continue writing as much as I am able, both books and my blog which I started in 2005.

Susanne Lamido SUZ BLOG: http://susannelamido.blogspot.com/

After spending most of her working life in West Africa combining high profile business with aid and refugee distribution work throughout Africa whilst living on the fringe of fanatical local

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politics, on her return to the UK she became a local activist, later joining the local Liberal Democrats as a way of getting more help for local residents. Over the years she’s served on several local, Regional and Federal committees and working taskforces. Her primary objective was to get more Ethnic minority candidates elected to Parliament, an uphill struggle with the Liberal Democrats who really are not that interested. Fascinated by e-revolution Susanne started her own blog in Nov 2004 adopting the same chatty style as Lynne Featherstone MP’s blog. Believing in saying it as it is didn’t go down well with some party stalwarts but, refusing to be deterred, Suz Blog nethertheless still maintains a regular readership. Topics she writes on are anything political that catches the eye, local issues with some personal and international matters. She is now a Liberal Democrat political bystander but is still heavily involved with local issues. More recently the boroughs PFI regeneration housing programme.

Paul Linford PAUL LINFORD: http://paullinford.blogspot.com/

Paul Linford is 44 and a former Parliamentary Lobby journalist now working as a digital publishing manager. He took up blogging in May 2005, a year after leaving the Lobby where he was political editor of the Newcastle Journal for seven years. His eponymous blog combines a mixture of the personal and the political and has become particularly renowned for its commentaries on Labour politics. He is also one of the leading voices


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in the blogosphere in support of an English Parliament and other democratic reforms. Paul was born in Middlesex in 1962 and educated at Hitchin Boys’ School and University College London before embarking on an 18-year career in newspaper journalism. He now lives in Belper, Derbyshire, with his wife Gill and their three-year-old son George and baby daughter Clara. Aside from politics, his main passions are fellwalking, DIY, gardening, cookery, music and beer. A committed Christian, his faith informs his own personal politics which he describes as “an uncategorisable mixture of social conservatism and economic leftism.”

William Luckman THE CROYDONIAN: http://croydonian.blogspot.com

I am a life-long political obsessive – I was taken out canvassing when still in a pushchair – and am grateful daily that what has been known to glaze over the eyes of friends in the pub attracts an audience. I describe my politics as at the libertarian end of Conservatism, or less jargonistically as economically hawkish and socially liberal. Beyond that basic credo, I blog about whatever takes my fancy, be it political, cultural or just likely to strike a chord with my regulars. I try to find items from sources beyond the all too predictable BBC, ‘broadsheet’ newspapers and the like, and have found rich veins of entertaining content in foreign papers, organisation press rooms – especially the EU’s - and the like. While the bulk of my posts are comparatively short, I aim to do lengthier pieces when the muse inspires me, and have the good fortune to have attracted a number of literate, worldly

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and witty comment makers who can be relied upon to bring detail and illumination to much of what I choose to write. Without that interaction, I would find blogging considerably less worthwhile.

Tim Montgomerie CONSERVATIVEHOME: http://www.conservativehone.com

Tim was Iain Duncan Smith’s Political Secretary for his last two months as Tory leader. Before then he worked at the Bank of England, founded the Conservative Christian Fellowship and ran a unit at Conservative Central Office dedicated to finding new ways of fighting poverty. With IDS he established the Centre for Social Justice in the summer of 2004. Early in 2005, inspired by the success of American political blogging, he started ConservativeHome.com. ConservativeHome, now edited with Samuel Coates, was the first website to win the Political Studies Association’s Publication of the Year Award. It aims to champion the concerns of grassroots conservatives and be a one-stop shop for all news and comment from a Tory perspective. ConservativeHome provides a platform for all perspectives within the Tory coalition but Tim is open about his own views. Tim is a social conservative – pro-life and pro-family. He’s a supply-sider – believing that low tax, low-regulation economies are faster-growing. He’s a hawk – believing that more lives have been lost in recent years by non-interventionism (Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur) than by interventionism (Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan). He’s a progressive conservative – opposing arms sales to undemocratic regimes and supporting strict caps on donations to political parties.


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He could not foresee the circumstances under which he’d want to be a Conservative MP.

Chris Mounsey DEVIL’S KITCHEN: http://devilskitchen.me.uk

Chris Mounsey is a London-born, Eton-educated and, at the time, Edinburgh-based graphic designer who became aware of blogging when a major bookseller sacked one of their employees for publishing on the web. After blogging for a few months, he started being linked to by some of the highly respected bloggers and his readership started to grow. His blogging alter ego, The Devil (or DK), is infamous for his scathing (and expletive-heavy) attacks on politicians, media commentators, opinion formers, bloggers and anyone else who attracts his ire. Although denigrated by some – those, for instance, who write off The Devil’s propensity for four-letter words as childish – many other bloggers and readers appreciate that The Devil writes powerfully; pertinent points concealed beneath the sharp words. Politically, DK has made the journey – helped by people such as Tim Worstall and Chris Dillow – from traditional conservative to, what he describes as a “loony libertarian”: a fierce advocate of free-markets, personal freedom and individual responsibility. Although now a UKIP member, DK insists that he is “the Devil’s Kitchen first, libertarian second, and UKIP member third.” He continues to be angry, but now excoriates from Brixton. DK has also been known to write articles entirely devoid of swearing, most notably at the Wanabehuman and 18 Doughty Street blogs, and also in The Big Red Book Of New Labour Sleeze.

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He has also written extensively as a reviewer during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, for Three Weeks and EdinburghGuide.

Paul Newman NEWMANIA: http://izenewmania.blogspot.com

Once upon a time Newmania was the orb about which the stars wheeled. His food and comfort were attended to as if he were a god; and it was right. Sadly, this cushy number ended on the Third of October 1963 when he was born by emergency caesarean. Today he is a face on the tube amongst the countless souls like petals on a wet, black bough. He ekes a pittance from insurance and lives with his family in Islington. Part Pooter and part Prufcock his spirit has resisted its altered circumstances and consequently the wolf is so often at the door he leaves it milk and biscuits. He attended St. Albans School (Direct Grant) and studied English a bit at Newcastle University, where he did ok. Turning to politics, Islington Council are to blame. In an act of wretched perfidy they robbed this proud warrior of his ancient lands aka his parking space. A long correspondence paid for, no doubt, by the fines newmania “cheerfully” paid, prompted our hero to join the Conservative Party, aged 39. He was soon grand Poo-bah of something or other, running for the Council and infesting the local paper’s letters page. From there it was a swift step to boring his wife rigid about the moral deficiencies of the Labour Party. If his blog has a settled purpose it is only that he, like all the other working family men in England, feels excluded not only from political life but from all public life. Blogging has allowed one more tree that would have fallen unheard, to fall with a crack on some deserving New Labour skull.


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Rachel North RACHEL FROM NORTH LONDON: http://rachelnorthlondon.blogspot.com

Rachel North, an advertising director, became a blogger in July 2005 after her internet message board account of surviving a terrorist bomb was picked up by the BBC. She was asked to write a week-long survivor diary on the BBC News website as a ‘citizen journalist’, and then moved the content to a blog Rachel From North London. Her ongoing story of the personal and political fallout after 7/7 became a focal point for other survivors, and in December 2005 Rachel began to use her blog to campaign for the protection of civil liberties despite the new terror threat, and to push for an independent inquiry into the London bombings. Immense media interest in blogging 7/7 survivors meant Rachel became a frequent TV and radio interviewee, commenting on the politics of terror. She was a contributor to the acclaimed political movie Taking Liberties, made a Channel 4 documentary on conspiracy theories and was asked to write for a number of newspapers and magazines. Rachel is now a full time writer and a regular contributor to the Sunday Times News Review. She published her first book, a memoir, in July 2007. Out of the Tunnel is published by the Friday Project Ltd in paperback.

James Oates CICERO'S SONGS: http://cicerossongs.blogspot.com/

Cicero is the nom de blog of James Oates, a Liberal Democrat activist and previous parliamentary candidate with an obsession about central and eastern Europe, which he turned into a banking

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career nearly 20 years ago. Since he has a relatively short attention span, he covers a pretty broad range of subjects, which might include musings on Iain Hamilton Finlay, being fooled by randomness, the rise of fascism in Russia or the persistent failure of British politicians to get to grips with the basic idea of freedom. He continues to work for the Liberal Democrats' vision of a freer and more open society. As a devotee of the more obscure parts of Europe, which he visits often, he might blog about meeting the Albanian Prime Minister, comparative Slavic grammar or the virtues of Estonian beer. Whilst he most often prefers a tone of sweet reason, his irritation at the double speak and short sightedness of, to pick a couple of names at random - David Cameron or Vladimir Putin - can lead to a certain degree of ranting, but he would argue that this is well justified.

David Osler DAVE’S PART: http://www.davidosler.com

David Osler is probably the only leftwing blogger in Britain to have failed auditions for both Generation X and Adam and the Ants. An active socialist since his teens, he has done all sorts of things that have had to be discretely airbrushed from his CV since he rejoined the Labour Party earlier this year. These include a stint as a full-time journalist on a Trotskyist newspaper that the revolutionary proletariat resolutely refused to buy, ghosting articles for Arthur Scargill, and authorship of the book Labour Party plc, a critical examination of Labour’s transformation into New Labour. He is now a journalist on Lloyds List.


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Leisure interests include loud jazz, loose women and decent Scotch.

Mark Pack LIBDEM VOICE: http://www.libdemvoice.org

Mark Pack is Head of Innovations for the Liberal Democrats, a job which includes ensuring the party is at the forefront of effective and innovative use of the internet. He previously had a series of IT jobs in universities and the financial software industry before working for seven years in the Liberal Democrats’ Campaigns & Elections Department. He ran the Liberal Democrats’ national internet campaigns in the 2001 and 2005 general elections and first started writing HTML on a Vax mainframe in the mid-1990s. He has a doctorate in nineteenth century English elections from the University of York and is one of the team who blog at Liberal Democrat Voice (www.libdemvoice.org).

Tom Paine THE LAST DITCH: http://lastditch.typepad.com

From High School Maoist, through University Conservative to disillusioned middle-aged libertarian, the common thread in Tom’s political life is frustrated idealism. Twenty-five years as a lawyer would make a cynic of anyone, particularly if 15 of them were spent in the corrupt postCommunist countries of Eastern Europe. Yet, despite all the evidence around him, Tom is still prone, at times, to an innate belief in the essential goodness of Man.

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He blogs pseudonymously to spare the blushes of his professional partners and colleagues, using the name of one of his heroes. His reasons for blogging are perfectly explained by the life of the original Paine, who changed the world with political pamphlets and was known as “the most dangerous man alive”. Brought up in the working-class Labour heartlands of the North, he particularly despises middle-class socialists who compound political stupidity with ignorance of the people whose interests they claim to serve. He is no conventional Conservative, not least in his passionate hatred of the Labour Party, which he regards as the principal enemy of the British working class.

Chris Paul CHRIS PAUL'S LABOUR OF LOVE: http://chrispaul-labouroflove.blogspot.com/

Chris Paul is a serial social entrepreneur with 25 years of founding and co-founding institutions and entities: Medlock Publishing which later sold City Life magazine to GMG as well as publishing Gay Life; Basement Video Project which produced some large scale outdoor art and some tiny video pieces; Manchester's Dance Development Agency, performing arts trainers Physical State International, Innovation in Digital and Electronic Arts (IDEA), an early web-based learning project with some 8,000 adherents Getting Online, Chapel Street Business Group and others. He has raised millions for arts and media charities, been a heart-led (i.e. often penniless) music promoter and manager, and for a time ran Manchester City Council's Job Advertising Agency.


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Chris is very proud to have been a Tony Wilson sidekick in promoting the Durutti Colum in Manchester Cathedral, in serving as a steerer for the Festival of the Universal Machine (FUM) in 1998, and in vainly attempting to unite Liverpool and Manchester through the IR2 concept. Wilson in turn sidekicked back as a steerer for IDEA, swore fluently at Bishops and trainspotters as a guest digeratum for Getting Online, and even joined Shameless auteur Paul Abbott in signing Chris's nomination papers for two so far unsuccessful attempts to be elected to represent Manchester City Centre on council. Chris blogged before there was blogging as an extremely prolific electronic community member across a staggering range of subjects, blogged 36 links hourly for 36 hours as part of the 36 Hours in a Mystery Chair Project (1998) and finally did a proper blog for a month in 2005, holding up the Labour end in John Harris' So Now Who Do We Vote For project. A more ongoing blog emerged about eight months ago when other projects lulled. Chris is currently a "New" Entrepreneur Scholar at MMUBS while trying to decide which particular fancies of his butterfly mind to nail. He is organising a 75th Anniversary dinner for sports excellence alumnae at University of Manchester with Dame Tanni Gray Thompson as star turn, trying to drive along two potential embryo business centres in Salford and Stockport, celebrating more than ten years as a Trustee of Walk The Plank - who tour a theatre ship and make brilliant fireworks and spectacular events (Art Cars coming soon to a street near you), celebrating the new refugee status of Farhat Khan and her family, and serving on the steering group for Emmaus Salford. Chris gets up Tory bloggers' noses ... Which is nice.

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Bob Piper http://bobpiper.co.uk

Bob Piper has been a Labour Council for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council since May 1999. He started blogging in February 2004, inspired by Tom Watson, Britain’s first blogging MP and influenced by Tim Ireland’s (Bloggerheads) advice on political blogging. His blog is about politics, both nationally and in the West Midlands, and also about his other interests, particularly football (Aston Villa) and cricket (Yorkshire County Cricket Club – “we used to go to Scarborough for summer holidays when I was younger”) and music. In addition to his work as a councillor Bob works part-time for the National Health Service and does some part-time tutoring in employment law for trade unionists. He was previously employed in local government and in the engineering industry, where his biggest claim to fame was sitting on the same Joint Shop Stewards Committee as Bill Morris.

Sanddef Rhyferys ORDOVICIUS: http://this-is-sparta.blogspot.com

Sanddef Rhyferys is an RAF brat, musician and occultist who spent most of the nineties travelling around Europe living off his guitar and voice, fraternizing with leftwing nationalists in Spain and anarchists in northern Europe, as well as breeding goats in the Pyrenees of Aragon without electricity. Before 2003 he was a complete technophobe whose only concession to the modern world was to own a portable CD player and radio.


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Sanddef started blogging at the end of 2004, and is rumoured to have started more Welsh language blogs than any other single individual. In March this year he started the political blog Ordovicius, and after appearing on 18 Doughty Street, live-blogging the Assembly elections from start to finish, getting published in the odd Welsh magazine, fisking Adam Price MP and pestering other bloggers, he has become a well known figure in the bilingual bubble of Welsh politics, as well as a vaguely recognised blogger beyond Offa’s Dyke. Sanddef is a member of the communities pressure group Cymuned, which is campaigning for the establishment of a secondary sustainable housing market for local communities. Sanddef ’s ambitions include getting onto Iain Dale’s Daily Reads, and acquiring a clone of Caroline Hunt for undisclosed reasons.

Mike Rouse http://www.mikerouse.net/

The world of political technology has fascinated Mike Rouse for more than 7 years and continues to provide many exciting developments, one of the most recent of which is the advent of 18 Doughty Street Talk TV where he operates as the Head of Technology. His vast technical skills and expertise oversee the smooth operation of much of the station’s online presence in addition to much of the behindthe-scenes systems. Also being interested in politics outside of technology and having a confrontational interview style Mike has been known to conduct the occassional front of camera productions. Outside of 18 Doughty Street, Mike works with a number of bloggers to help out with technical issues and embark on various

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projects, such as directories, applications, widgets, graphics and more including template redesign. In addition, he also volunteers with the Young Britons’ Foundation on technological issues. In mid-2007 Mike’s company, Global New Media Limited, was bought out and later formed into MessageSpace://Creative Limited, for which Mike is the Managing Director. Customers include Tory Radio, Rt Hon John Redwood MP, Heather Wheeler, Nigerian Review, Havant Conservative Association and Medway Council Conservative Group amongst others. Mike is 24 and heralds from the post-industrial city of Coventry and moved to London in September 2006, but continues to support the Sky Blues in their ambitions to return to the Premier League.

Ellee Seymour http://elleeseymour.com

Ellee Seymour is a journalist and freelance press consultant working for Conservative politicians and was the Conservative Party’s Eastern Region Press Officer during the last general election. She writes mainly about news and politics, but is also very interested in environmental issues and actively promoted waste minimisation and the green agenda before it became the hot topic it is today. Ellee’s posts on “women’s” issues have covered domestic violence, arranged marriages, prostitution and divorce laws and have attracted heated comments and been widely debated. Her regular posts on missing people add an extra dimension to her site and demonstrate the way she wants to represent those who it is all to easy to forget. Her blog is being archived by the British Library as a record of contemporary life today.


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Tony Sharp THE WAENDEL JOURNAL: http://tonysharp.blogspot.com

Football commentator turned political commentator - that’s Councillor Tony Sharp, the Northamptonshire politico behind the popular and respected Waendel Journal. The 36-year-old is best described as a street-fighting “conviction” politician who wears the badges of honesty and integrity with pride. Tony applies his conservative principles to the political issues of the day at his regularly updated blog and whether he’s breaking a story or tackling thorny issues, he blogs without fear or favour. He gets right to the heart of his subject and dissects any failings in clinical fashion. His direct, natural writing style shows through in his authoritative postings on issues he is passionate about, such as Labour’s spin, incompetence and broken promises, power grabs by the EU and devolution’s negative impact on England. Most bloggers would be happy just to settle for a decent readership, but Tony seems to be developing something of a fan base. Evidence of this is a recent reader survey in which, unprompted, several of his readers nominated him for Prime Minister over the likely candidates on offer to the electorate at the next general election. The new kid on the blogging block has demonstrated his pedigree and maybe it’s only a matter of time before the national political stage beckons.

Jonathan Sheppard TORY RADIO: http://www.toryradio.com

Born in 1975, Jonathan went to the University of York where he gained a BA followed two years later by an MA in politics and educa-

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tion. Jonathan has held various positions within the party, from Association Chairman, to Media Adviser to a Group Leader on a Council, and more recently as an unpaid adviser to a Shadow Minister. His full-time career has primarily been in the Public Sector, working in various communications roles within the Royal Mail, before taking a similar role with Boots the Chemists. In 2005 Jonathan fought the Labour stronghold of Bassetlaw, and whilst failing to get elected, helped lay the foundations for Bassetlaw to turn Conservative for the first time in 30 years in the local elections in 2006. Jonathan got engaged to Julie during the 2005 election, and has been happily married since February 2006. In late 2006 he established Crossbench Consulting, a Communications Consultancy, of which he is Managing Director. He continues to live in the Midlands but is a Northerner through and through.

Mike Smithson POLITICAL BETTING.COM: http://www.politicalbetting.com

Mike set up Polititcalbetting.com in March 2004 and is author of the book, The Political Punter - How to make money betting on Politics (Harriman House 2007). From 1971-1984 he was a journalist with BBC News and was part of the team in the mid-1970s that handled the first Broadcasting of Parliament experiment. This was followed by regular stints at Westminster. In 1977 he ousted Denis MacShane, the former Foreign Office Minister, as the National Executive member for the UK’s Radio and TV journalists at the NUJ. He was a founder member of the Liberal Democrats and stood for Parliament at the 1992 General Election. He was elected twice as


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a County Councillor in Bedfordshire and has also been a Borough Councillor in Bedford. Mike Smithson works as a university fundraiser and was the Director of Development at the LSE, Cambridge, Oxford and York universities. Since April 2007 he has had the same role at the Open University.

Theo Spark http://theospark.blogspot.com

Theo is a 41 year old farm labourer, raised and educated in Norfolk. He is probably the best ski tech in the country. He started out in Fine Art and has been going downhill ever since. Three years ago he started blogging (badly) but then discovered photoshop and ‘totty’! An Englishman with strong views on most things, he is about as politically correct as an H bomb. He dislikes liberals, socialists and Belgians. Revoltingly single and horribly happy with it, he is remarkably big in the United States.

Nich Starling NORFOLK BLOGGER: http://norfolkblogger.blogspot.com

Nich Starling is a primary school teacher in Norwich. His political involvement stated at the age of 20 when aiding his father’s election. Since then he has acted as agent on numerous occasions, and has never lost an election yet. He was part of the “North Norfolk Project” over a number of years which helped Norman Lamb

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turn a 10,000 Conservative majority into a LibDem one of similar size, he was himself elected in Fakenham to serve as a District Councillor in 2003, coming from fourth place to win by 468 votes. Nich was subsequently approved as a parliamentary candidate by the LibDems before standing down from the council in 2007 and taking a rest from front line politics to concentrate on his young family. This is why he took up blogging, to keep some involvement in politics, but “from my front room”. Nich has not ruled out a return to active politics in the future, but he says no matter what, his blog is a permanent feature now and “every time I see something interesting I think I can blog about that.”

Helen Szamuely EU REFERENDUM: http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/ and CONSERVATIVE HISTORY GROUP: http://conservativehistory.blogspot.com

Dr Helen Szamuely is a political researcher and writer who has been known to write (whenever she can manage to get away from politics) on history and literature as well as translate Russian poetry into English. She works in the House of Lords, producing briefs for peers who are rarely aligned with any party line. Apart from that, she is the Head of Research for the Bruges Group and the editor of the Conservative History Journal. She has taken to the internet with great enthusiasm, is the coauthor of the EU Referendum blog and the author of the Conservative History blog as well as a contributor to several websites in the United States.


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Stephen Tall A LIBERAL GOES A LONG WAY: http://oxfordliberal.blogspot.com

Stephen Tall is the commissioning editor of the Liberal Democrat Voice website, an independent, collaborative website run by LibDem activists and bloggers. He also blogs at A Liberal Goes A Long Way, which won the inaugural LibDem Blog of the Year award at the party’s Brighton conference in 2006. His official website, www.stephentall.org.uk, was short-listed in the 2006 New Statesman New Media Awards ‘Elected Representative’ category. Stephen is a LibDem councillor in Oxford, having first been elected in 2000 at the age of 23. He was re-elected in 2002 and in 2006, latterly gaining the highest vote and biggest majority in the city. He is currently the city’s Deputy Lord Mayor, and has previously served as the executive member for finance, and as deputy leader of the LibDem group. He has worked as Director of Strategy and Development for St Anne’s College in Oxford, where he is a Fellow, since 2002.

Grant Thoms TARTAN HERO: http://tartanhero.blogspot.com

Grant Thoms, aka Tartan Hero, is a late starter in the blogging world. Years of moving from one career to another, from hotel management to social services, from financial services to economic development, and finally landing in green energy public relations, has provided ample experience for writing about real-life politics. Walking the fine line between party loyalist (Grant is a member of the SNP’s National Executive, a Glasgow City

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Councillor and secretary of the Association of Nationalist Councillors) and wannabe-free spirit of green nationalist politics could have him punted for Circus Holyrood at a later stage if they have a need for more tight-rope walkers. What started as a commentary on campaigning for a local government seat has blossomed into an ‘in-your-face’ view of Scottish politics. Focused on the antics of the Scottish Parliament, his blog has drawn the ire of several Labour MSPs, some of whom sadly are no longer serving in that hallowed half-way house to Scottish independence. Blogging, in the context as a serving Councillor (Standards Commission are ever omni-present) and with an SNP Government to support, brings its own challenges but it’s unlikely to become yet another career move.

Unity MINISTRY OF TRUTH: http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/

The Ministry of Truth is the online home of Unity, a globally renowned wit, raconteur, international playboy and congenital liar . . . Actually, it’s just a blog written by an anonymous West Midlander who’s opinionated enough to have something to say and sufficiently egotistical to think that some people might find his opinions of interest – which, much to his surprise, and occasional chagrin, seems to be the case. Unity – the name comes from a very geeky mathematical joke, by the way – writes mostly about politics and current events with the occasional forays into science, trenchant atheism, baiting the far-right and potty-mouthed ranting, and finds much of his inspiration in a deep-seated sense of irritation with the inability of


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many people to think for themselves and advance rational arguments in support of their opinions. Occasionally he gets accused of writing something worthwhile and is never entirely sure whether to plead ‘not guilty’. Oh, and he does a fair amount of fisking, so it’s usually worth making a cup of coffee and nipping off to the toilet before visiting his blog.

Paul Walter LIBERAL BURBLINGS: http://paulwalter.blogspot.com

Paul Walter is a Cornishman forced to avoid renting out deckchairs by living in Berkshire. On election day in 1970, aged 10, he left for school dressed from head to toe in blue (to fool his father, who was a Tory) and then changed in the toilets into a completely orange outfit to show his support for the Liberal Party. He was committed shortly afterwards, being unable to claim he was re-enacting the Tango advert, because Tango didn’t exist in those days. I’m not saying he’s old, but when he worked in local radio he presented a programme playing 78 rpm records. He has worked for so long in the computer industry that one of his early jobs was to pack up punch cards and clear the telex machine. In 1983 he shook hands with Margaret and Denis Thatcher, and was so enamoured with them that he became a member of the Liberal Party shortly afterwards. At one time, he directed all his obsessive energy towards writing endless letters to the press. In May 2006 he switched to blogging where he sometimes does a passable impression of a tickertape machine or, more accurately, someone with verbal diarrhoea.

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The high point of his blogging was one of his two month old posts appearing in the “Latest News” section of the “Loft Shop” web site.

Matt Wardman THE WARDMAN WIRE: http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/

My recipe for an interesting political blog is “two or three big topics, and a few bees in your bonnet”. In the case of my main site The Wardman Wire, the topics are commentary and analysis of British politics, and technology in the political process. The bees in my bonnet are Independent politics, cricket and (occasionally) exposing atheist blogs in their continuing misrepresentation of religion. My style is analytical rather than polemical, and I often feature cartoons. I use the “Matt Wardman” pseudonym to separate my day job from my political writing. I want to make political blogs more widely known, so during the autumn of 2007 I will be publishing an e-book entitled The Nuts and Bolts of Political Blogging. I started the blog in March 2007, and post several times daily. The blog is now approaching the “1000 articles” point, and draws 500-1000 unique visitors daily. In addition to my main site, I run a number of other political websites - including the UK Political Blog Directory at www.poliblogs.co.uk, and a Local Politics site at www.parishpump.org.uk. I maintain sites which provide combined news feeds from Welsh (www.politics-wales.co.uk), Scottish (www.politics-scotland.co.uk) and Conservative (www.toryblogs.org.uk) political blogs. I am currently looking for short or long term guest bloggers to add a new voice to the blog. My day job is as a freelance project manager and web communications consultant.


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Tim Worstall http://timworstall.typepad.com

Tim Worstall is an Englishman who has pottered about most of his adult life managing to not quite succeed in various businesses while all around others were making money hand over fist. His current position as head of the international scandium oligopoly is more of the same: it’s the only commodity which has not soared in value over the past decade. In 2004, after years arguing with people on Usenet, he decided to follow generations of earlier failures and try to write for a living. Rather than take an unpaid intern’s position somewhere (offers of which were remarkably thin on the ground even for a middle aged man) he started to blog. Lack of talent or knowledge has led to his making up the difference in quantity: he recently passed the 10,000 post mark. Delusions of adequacy have led to his pestering editors and his scribbles have appeared in The Times, TCS Daily, The Press Gazette and the book pages of The Telegraph and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He also blogs for the Adam Smith Institute. High point of his blogging so far: insulting Polly Toynbee on a regular basis and being referred to, by her, as “you pendant”, something he takes to mean a cheap and flashy bauble with which to adorn one’s embonpoint. Or as it was possibly meant, something close to a tit.

Gareth Young LITTLE MAN IN A TOQUE: http://toque.co.uk

Gareth Young is a 33 year-old Englishman whose life and scientific career have been characterised by itchy-feet syndrome. Having led

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a journeyman existence, living and working all over England, and also in Germany, Scotland and Canada, he has wed his Canadian sweetheart and laid down his hat in the South Downs. In 2001, as a then denizen of Scotland, appalled at New Labour’s Anglophobic asymmetrical democracy, he joined the Campaign for an English Parliament. In 2004, having revamped the CEP website and moved it to its present location, he stepped into the void and created the CEP News Blog - the web’s first explicitly English nationalist blog - with the intention of increasing the CEP’s web presence and giving voice to English nationalism at a time when nervous broadcasters, editors and politicians would not. It worked. Today the CEP News blog is but one of many pro-English blogs networked under the banner of the ‘Witanagemot Club’ that advocate a progressive civic English nationalism. Much to the chagrin of those who previously dismissed English nationalism as racist, extremist or best ignored, the arguments advanced by the non-partisan and increasingly pluralist club are now common currency and have been echoed by the mainstream media; Chesterton’s oft-touted ‘silent people’ have spoken and will no longer be ignored. Best blog moment: Being described on the BNP website as a bourgeoisie, solipsistic, navel gazing, pseudoEnglish nationalist.


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The directory of UK political blogs 2007-08 This list of political blogs based in the United Kingdom contains nearly 1200 political blogs. Twelve months ago it was difficult to list more than 500, so it is true to say that the political blogosphere in this country has doubled in size over the last twelve months. The list contains 371 right of centre blogs, 308 on the left and 125 LibDem supporting blogs, as well as media blogs, non-aligned blogs and blogs supporting minor parties. I don't pretend that it is all encompassing or that it is totally up to date. Every day blogs die and blogs are created. If you know of any blogs I have missed and should be included in next year's edition of this book, or blogs that have ceased to exist, please do let me know via my blog at http://iaindale.blogspot.com.

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Labour LibDem Non Aligned Libertarian

Left Wing UKIP Media

Conservative SNP Green

Right Wing Plaid Cymru Humour

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DOMAIN

0725 to Paddington 18 and Labour 18 Doughty Street 1820.org.uk 4glengate 5tracks A Cloud in Trousers A Conservative Mind A Conservative's Blog A Far Fetched Resolution A Liberal Dose A Liberal Goes A Long Way A Miracle of Red Device A Petrosexual's Tuppence A Place to Stand

http://0725topaddington.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.labour.org.uk/richard http://18doughtystreet.com/blog http://1820.org.uk/ http://4glengate.net/ http://www.5tracks.eu/ http://cloud-in-trousers.blogspot.com/ http://conservativemindc4.blogspot.com/ http://aconservatives.blogspot.com/ http://www.afarfetchedresolution.com/ http://liberalneil.blogspot.com/ http://oxfordliberal.blogspot.com/ http://amiracleofraredevice.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/csigournay/ http://a-place-to-stand.blogspot.com/

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A Posh Sounding Northumbrian A Radical Writes A Tangled Web A Very British Dude A View From the Right A Young Conservative Aberavon & Neath LibDems Aberystwyth CF Action Without Theory Adam Boulton Adam Macqueen Adam Price MP Adam Smith Institute Adam Smith was a Socialist Adam Teladia Adrian Monck Adrian Sanders MP Adrian Yalland Agent Mancuso Aileen Campbell MSP Alan Beddow Alan's Blogs Alasdair Ross Ali Gledhill Ali Miraj Alice in Blogland Alittlefishy.net All About Nothing All Along the Watchtower Allan Andrews Alternative Energy Blog Alun Cairns AM Amanda's Green Space Amanwy Amazing Toad An Englishman's Castle An Insatiable Yucca An Insomniac Anastasia Beaumont-Bott And Then He Said Anders Hanson Andrea Davison Andrea Leadsom Andrew Allison Andrew Bridgen Andrew Burns Really Bad Blog Andrew Garner Andrew Hinton Andrew Milton Andrew Percy Andy D'Agorne Andy Love MP

http://www.northumbrian.org.uk/ http://aradicalwrites.blogspot.com/ http://atangledweb.typepad.com/ http://brackenworld.blogspot.com/ http://stevenbainbridge.blogspot.com/ http://a-young-conservative.blogspot.com/ http://aberavonneathlibdems.blogspot.com/ http://abercf.blogspot.com/ http://action-without-theory.blogspot.com/ http://adamboulton.typepad.com/ http://adammacqueen.blogspot.com/ http://www.adampriceblog.org.uk/ http://www.adamsmith.org/blog http://adamsmithwasasocialist.blogspot.com/ http://www.adamteladia.org.uk/ http://adrianmonck.blogspot.com/ http://blog.myspace.com/adriansandersmp http://adrianyalland.blogspot.com/ http://agentmancuso.blogspot.com/ http://www.aileencampbell.com/ http://alan-beddow.blogspot.com/ http://alandobbie.blogspot.com/index.html http://alasdairross.blogspot.com/ http://www.aligledhill.com/blog/ http://www.alimiraj.com/ http://alice-in-blogland.blogspot.com http://twolittlefishes.blogspot.com/ http://leongreen.wordpress.com/ http://strmrgn.livejournal.com/ http://www.allanandrews.co.uk/wp2/index.php http://alt-e.blogspot.com http://www.blog.aluncairns.co.uk/ http://ladywarrior38.spaces.live.com/blog/ http://amanwy.blogspot.com/ http://theamazingtoad.blogspot.com/ http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ http://insatiableyucca.wordpress.com/ http://www.aninsomniac.co.uk/ http://anastasiabeaumontbott.blogspot.com/ http://random-incident.journalspace.com/ http://andershanson.wordpress.com/ http://www.readmyday.co.uk/andreadavison http://www.andrealeadsom.com/ http://andrew-allison.blogspot.com/ http://www.andrewbridgen.com/andrews-blog http://andrewburns.blogspot.com/ http://andrewjgarner.blogspot.com/ http://mindrobber.blogspot.com/ http://20six.co.uk/andrewmilton http://andypercy.blogspot.com/ http;//wwwreadmyday.co.uk/andydag http://andylovemp.blogspot.com/


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Andy Mayer Angels in Marble Ann Garner Anne Marie Morris Annibyniaeth i Gymru Ann's Sedgley Blog Another Green World Anthonius Anthony McEweon Antoine Clarke's Election Watch Antonia Bance Antony Little Anyone but Gordon Anyone but Ken Anything Caron Can Do Apocalypse Times Apollo Appalling Strangeness Appalling Stupidity Arbitrary Constant Archbishop Cranmer Arthurian Legend Arthur's Seat Arwen Folkes As a Dodo Asparagus Assembly Notes Austin Mitchell MP Aylesford Conservatives Back from Damascus Backing Blair Baggage Reclaim Bailey Blog Baillieston Independent Baillieu Blog Baker's Dozen Ballots, Balls & Bikes Balrog Banksy's Blog Barcharters Anonymous Barkingside21 Barry's Beef Bath Conservative Future BBC Editors' Blog BBC Eye Beau Bo D'Or Bel is Thinking Belle de Jure BellgroveBelle Belsize LibDems Ben Davies Ben Sherreard

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http://andymayer.blogspot.com/ http://hatfieldgirl.blogspot.com/ http://anngarner.blogspot.com/ http://annemarienewtonabbot.blogspot.com/ http://annibyniaeth.blogspot.com/ http://anngarner.blogspot.com/ http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/ http://anthoninus.blogspot.com/ http://anthonymckeown.info/blog.html http://antoineclarke.blogspot.com/ http://www.antoniabance.org.uk/ http://antonylittle.blogspot.com http://anyonebutgordon.blogspot.com/ http://anyonebutken.blogspot.com/ http://anything-caron-can-do.blogspot.com/ http://apocalypsetimes.blogspot.com/ http://www.liberalreview.com/blogs/apollo http://theappallingstrangeness.blogspot.com/ http://appallingstupidity.blogspot.com/ http://www.arbitraryconstant.co.uk/ http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/ http://swordinthelake.blogspot.com/ http://arthursseat.blogs.com/ http://arwenfolkes.blogspot.com/ http://www.asadodo.com/ http://the-asparagus.blogspot.com/ http://assemblynotes.blogspot.com/ http://www.austinmitchell.org/ http://aylesfordconservatives.blogspot.com/ http://www.back-from-damascus.blogspot.com/ http://www.backingblair.co.uk/weblog.html http://bagrec.livejournal.com/ http://baileyblogspot.blogspot.com/ http://independentbaillieston.blogspot.com/ http://danversbaillieu.blogspot.com/ http://alexanderbaker.org.uk/ http://ballotsballsandbikes.blogspot.com/ http://gaskinbalrog.blogspot.com/ http://davidbanks.blogspot.com/ http://barcharter.blogspot.com/ http://barkingside21.blogspot.com http://barrysbeef.blogspot.com/ http://www.bathcf.co.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/ http://bbceye.blogspot.com/ http://www.bbdo.co.uk/blog http://beltoday.com/ http://belle-de-jure.blogspot.com/ http://bellgrovebelle.blogspot.com/ http://www.belsizelibdems.org.uk/ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/bens-blog http://bensherreard.blogspot.com/


Benedict Brogan Bernard Woolley Best of the Politics Blogs Bethan Jenkins AM Betsan Powys Between the Hammer & the Anvil Bewilderness Bexley Conservative Future Bexley Young Labour Biased BBC Bid for Freedom Big Blue Meanie Big Stick & Small Carrot Big Tommy Speaks Out Big Ulsterman Billy Hayes Bird's Eye View Birmingham University CF Birmingham University Labour Society Bishop Hill Blaby Conservative Future Black Country Boy Black Triangle Blair's Britain Blairwatch Blether with Brian Blog Menai Blog of Kev Blog Power Bloggerheads Bloggers 4 Labour Blogging 4 Merton Blognor Regis Blogolob Blogzilla Blood & Treasure Bloody Scott Blow Blog Blue Bell Hill & Walderslade Conservatives Blue Sky Thinking Blunt & Disorderly Bob from Brockley Bob Piper Bobballs Bookdrunk Boris Johnson Boris Watch Brandon Lewis Bread and Circuses Brendan O'Neill Brentwood, Essex, England Brian Barder

http://broganblog.dailymail.co.uk/ http://cttlom.blogspot.com/ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs http://bethanjenkins.blogspot.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/betsanpowys/ http://flyingrodent.blogspot.com/ http://thebewilderness.typepad.com/ http://www.bexleycf.com/ http://www.myspace.com/bexleyyounglabour http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/ http://bidforfreedom.blogspot.com/ http://bluemeanie.org/weblog http://bsscworld.blogspot.com/ http://bigtommygspeaks.blogspot.com/ http://bigulsterman.blogspot.com/ http://www.billyhayes.co.uk/ http://thoughtsfromtheborders.blogspot.com/ http://bucf.wordpress.com/ http://buls.org/ http://bishophill.squarespace.com/ http://conservative-future.blogspot.com/ http://ianangus.spaces.live.com/ http://blacktriangle.org/blog/ http://blairs-britain.blogspot.com/ http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/briantaylor/ http://oclmenai.blogspot.com/ http://kevsoft.co.uk/ http://defendingtheblog.blogspot.com/ http://www.bloggerheads.com/ http://www.bloggers4labour.org/index.jsp http://whelton.blogspot.com/ http://blognorregis.blogspot.com/ http://blogolob.net. http://dooooooom.blogspot.com/ http://bloodandtreasure.typepad.com/blood_treasure/ http://bloodyscott.blogspot.com/ http://bowblog.com/ http://bbhandwaldersladeconservatives.blogspot.com/ http://welshconservatives2007.blogspot.com/ http://paswonky.blogspot.com/ http://brockley.blogspot.com/ http://www.bobpiper.co.uk/ http://bobballs.blogspot.com/ http://rhetoricallyspeaking.blogspot.com/ http://www.boris-johnson.com/ http://www.boriswatch.com/ http://www.brandonlewis.org/blog.php http://bread-and-circuses.net/ http://www.brendanoneill.net/ http://brentwooduk.blogspot.com/ http://www.barder.com/ephems/


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Brian Coleman Brian Jenner Speechwriting Blog Brian Micklethwait Brickhill Brighton Regency Labour Party Britain & America Britain Fights Back British Bullshit Foundation British Nationalists in Wales Watch British Politics Britology Watch Brummie Tory Brussels Journal Bryan Appleyard Burham, Eccles & Wouldham Conservatives Burke's Corner Burning our Money By Elections Byrne Baby Byrne Cabarfeidh Pages Callum's Parish Blog Cally's Kitchen Calthorpe's Corner Camden blog Cameron Effect Cameron for PM Cameron Leadership Campaign for an English Parliament Caroline Hunt Carwyn Jones AM Cassilis Cascittuni Ceredig Chameleons on Bicycles Chap Sticks Charles Anglin Charles Barwell Charlie Beckett Charlie Bolton Charlie Harden Charlotte Leslie Chase me Ladies Cheezy's Blog Chicken Yoghurt Chipen Dale's Diary Choice Cuts Chosen Man Chris & Glynis Abbott Chris Doidge Chris Gale Chris Huhne Watch Chris Paul's Labour of Love

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http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/brian-coleman http://brianjenner.typepad.com/ http://www.brianmicklethwait.com/index.php http://brickhill.blogspot.com/ http://brightonregencylabourparty.blogspot.com/ http://britainandamerica.typepad.com/ http://timaker.blogspot.com http://britishbullshitfoundation.blogspot.com/ http://british-nats-watch.blogspot.com/ http://britishspin.blogspot.com/ http://britologywatch.wordpress.com/ http://brummietory.blogspot.com/index.html http://www.brusselsjournal.com/ http://www.bryanappleyard.com/blog/ http://bewconservatives.blogspot.com/ http://burkescorner.blogspot.com/ http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/ http://by_elections.blogspot.com/ http://www.byrnebabybyrne.com/ http://www.cabarfeidh.com/blogger.html http://callumringer.blogspot.com/ http://callyskitchen.blogspot.com/ http://calthorpe.wordpress.com/ http://camdenlabour.blogspot.com/ http://thecameroneffect.blogspot.com/ http://cameronforpm.blogspot.com/ http://www.cameronleadership.co.uk/ http://thecep.org.uk/news/ http://carolinehunt.blogspot.com http://bridgendnews.blogspot.com/ http://www.cassilis.co.uk/blog.html http://cascittuni.blogspot.com/ http://ceredig.blogspot.com/ http://chameleonsonbicycles.wordpress.com/ http://nicodemus-chap.blogspot.com/ http://bullseye-liberaldissenter.blogspot.com/ http://blog.charlesbarwell.com/ http://www.charliebeckett.org/ http://charlie-boltons-southville-blog.blogspot.com http://www.charlieharden.co.uk/ http://charlotteleslie.blogspot.com/ http://chasemeladies.blogspot.com/ http://ezycheezy.blogspot.com http://www.chickyog.net/ http://chipendale.blogspot.com/ http://johnechoices.blogspot.com/ http://the-chosen-man.blogspot.com/ http://chrisandglynisabbott.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/cdoidge http://chriswgale.typepad.com/chris_gale/ http://huhnewatch.blogspot.com/ http://chrispaul-labouroflove.blogspot.com/


Chris Whiteside Ciara Leeming Cicero's Songs Cigars & Chocolate Ale Citizen Andreas City Unslicker Civitas Claire Palmer Clampdown Climate Change Action Clive Davis Cloud in Trousers Clowns to the Left of Me Colin Ross Comment Central Compass Youth Complex System of Pipes Confessions of an Essex boy Conor's Commentary Conscious Earth Conservative History Group ConservativeHome Conservative Medical Society Conservative Party Reptile Conservative Who's Who Conservatives in Northern Ireland Conservengland Contra Tory Cornerstone Corporate Presenter Could have been a Contender Councillor Terry Kelly Coventry Green Voice Cowan Report Craig Murray Critical Faculty Dojo Cross of St George Croydon Greens Croydon Life Croydon Life Croydonian Cruella-blog Crushed by Ingsoc Cunning Title Curious Snippets from a Cynical Optimist Curly's Corner Shop Cynical Chatter Cyumned D M Andy Dad Blog Daily Planet Daily Propaganda

http://chris4copeland.blogspot.com/ http://ciaraleeming.blogspot.com/ http://cicerossongs.blogspot.com/ http://cigars-chocolateale.blogspot.com/ http://citizenandreas.blogspot.com/ http://cityunslicker.blogspot.com/ http://www.civitas.org.uk/blog/ http://clairepalmer.blogspot.com/ http://notworkingfortheclampdown.blogspot.com/ http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com http://www.spectator.co.uk/clivedavis/ http://cloud-in-trousers.blogspot.com/ http://cttlom.blogspot.com/ http://www.colin-ross.org.uk/ http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/ http://compassyouth.blogspot.com/ http://complexsystemofpipes.wordpress.com/ http://www.dan-miller.co.uk/ http://conorfryan.blogspot.com/ http://consciousearth.blogspot.com/ http://conservativehistory.blogspot.com http://www.conservativehome.com http://conservativemedicalsociety.blogspot.com/ http://partyreptile.blogspot.com/ http://www.conservativewhoswho.com/blog/ http://www.conservativesni.org/blog.php http://conservengland.blogspot.com/ http://www.contratory.co.uk/ http://cornerstonegroup.wordpress.com/ http://corporatepresenter.blogspot.com/ http://newgolddream.dyndns.info/blog/ http://councillorterrykelly.blogspot.com/ http://coventrygreenparty.blogspot.com http://thecowanreport.blogspot.com/ http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/ http://criticalfacultydojo.blogspot.com/ http://crossofstgeorge.net/news/blog.php http://croydongreens.blogspot.com/ http://www.croydon.org.uk/CroydonLife/ http://www.croydon.org.uk/CroydonLife/ http://croydonian.blogspot.com http://cruellablog.blogspot.com/ http://crushedbyingsoc.blogspot.com/ http://www.cunningtitle.co.uk/ http://vindicovindico.blogspot.com http://curly15.wordpress.com/ http://the-morningstar.co.uk/ http://cymuned.net/blogsaesneg/?cat=6 http://andydowland.com/blog/ http://www.dadblog.co.uk/ http://chdaly.blogspot.com/ http://www.dailypropaganda.co.uk/


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Daily Referendum Daily Telegraph Politics Blog Dan Hardie Dan Hassett Dan Wainwright Daniel Hannan MEP Daniel Hayward Darker Side of Bridget Jones Darlington Councillor Darlington Tory Darren Lilleker Dave Hill Dave's Part David Aaronovitch David Anthony Republic David Coleman David Cornock David Davies MP David Gold David Jones MP David Kidney MP David Leaf David Lindsay David Nikel David Smith's Economics UK David Torrance David Walker De Moralis Liberalibus Debateable Land Deirdre Alden Delib Depleted Uranium Derek Wyatt MP Despatch Blog Devenport Diaries Devil's Advocate Devil's Kitchen Dhimmi Watch Diary of Chris K Dickon Edwards Dirty Leftie Disgruntled Radical Disillusioned Kid Dispatches from the Cat Dispatches of a Teen Dizzy Thinks D-Notice Dodgeblogium Don Paskini Donal Blaney Double Negative Douglas Fraser

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http://dailyreferendum.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/ http://danhardie.wordpress.com/ http://danhassett.blogspot.com/ http://wainwrightsworld.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/danielhannan/ http://d-hayward.blogspot.com/ http://www.darkersideofbridgetjones.blogspot.com/ http://darlingtoncouncillor.blogspot.com/ http://darlingtontory.blogspot.com/ http://darrenlilleker.blogspot.com/ http://davehill.typepad.com/temperama/ http://davidosler.com http://timesonline.typepad.com/david_aaronovitch/ http://davidanthonyrepublic.blogspot.com/ http://davidcolemancf.blogspot.com/ http://davidcornock.blogspot.com/ http://daviddaviesam.blogspot.com/ http://www.davidgold4eltham.com/ http://davidjonesclwydwest.blogspot.com/ http://www.davidkidney.com/index.php?p-Blog http://www.davidleaf.net/ http://davidaslindsay.blogspot.com/ http://davidnikel.wordpress.com/ http://www.economicsuk.com/blog/ http://davidtorrance.blogspot.com/ http://cllrdavidwalker.org/wordp/ http://liberalibus.blogspot.com/ http://debatableland.typepad.com/ http://deirdrealden.blogspot.com/ http://www.delib.co.uk/dblog/ http://depleteduranium.wordpress.com/ http://www.derekwyatt.co.uk/ http://www.edelman.co.uk/insights/despatchblog/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/ http://barrybeelzebub.blogspot.com/ http://devilskitchen.me.uk http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/ http://clickeral.blogspot.com/ http://dickonedwards.co.uk/diary http://www.dirtyleftie.co.uk/ http://disgruntledradical.blogspot.com/ http://disillusionedkid.blogspot.com/ http://porgythecat.blogspot.com http://dispatchesofateen.blogspot.com/ http://dizzythinks.net http://d-notice.blogspot.com/ http://www.andrewiandodge.com/ http://don-paskini.blogspot.com/ http://donalblaney.blogspot.com/ http://roberthenryjackman.blogspot.com/ http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/politicalblogs


Downing Street Says Dr Rant Drink Soaked Trotsykite Popinjys for War Drinking from Home Duck News Duncan Borrowman Dunderheadedness Durruti Column Dustbin of History Dylan Jones-Evans Earthquake Cove East End Life Eastcliff Matters Eaten by Missionaries EC1 Cruise Control Eco Street Eco-geek Ecologist Blog Ecomonkey Ed Maxfield Ed Vaizey MP Edinburgh Sucks Edland Educational Conscription Edward Lucas El Blogador Electro Kevin Ellee Seymour Elliott Joseph Emdad Rahman Emma Greenow Emma Jones Bruce EmmaZONE England Expects English Conservative English Democrats Newsblog Ennui Eric Avebury Eric Lee E-Shotgun Esther McVey EU Referendum EURSOC Euston Manifesto Blog Evan Price Evanomics Everyday Social Democaracy Ewan's Blog Fahrenheit Fair Deal Phil Fairfield Life Fallowfield Clarion

http://www.downingstreetsays.com/ http://www.drrant.net/ http://drinksoakedtrotsforwar.blogspot.com/ http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/ http://ducknewsnetwork.blogspot.com/ http://duncanborrowman.blogspot.com/ http://dunderheaded.blogspot.com/ http://thedurruticolumn.wordpress.com/ http://dustbinofhistory.wordpress.com/ http://dylanje.blogspot.com/ http://earthquakecove.blogspot.com/ http://e9life.blogspot.com/ http://eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com/ http://eatenbymissionaries.blogspot.com/ http://ec1cruisecontrol.blogspot.com/ http://ecostreet.com/blog http://blog.brian-fitzgerald.net http://www.theecologist.org/blog.asp http://ecomonkey.blogspot.com http://owersby.wordpress.com http://www.edvaizey.mpblogs.com http://www.edinburghsucks.com/ http://edclarke.blogspot.com/ http://appallingstupidity.blogspot.com/ http://edwardlucas.blogspot.com/ http://elblogador.blogspot.com/ http://electro-kevin-electrokevin.blogspot.com/ http://elleeseymour.com/ http://elliottjoseph.blogspot.com/ http://tsu-doh-nimh.blogspot.com/ http://emmagreenow.blogspot.com/ http://emmajonesbrucegrove.blogspot.com/ http://emmazon.livejournal.com/ http://englandexpects.blogspot.com/ http://englishconservative.blogspot.com/ http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk/news.php http://lessofthemoviestuff.blogspot.com/ http://ericavebury.blogspot.com/ http://www.ericlee.info/ http://eshotgun.blogspot.com/ http://esther2009.wordpress.com/ http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/ http://www.eursoc.com/ http://www.eustonmanifesto.org/blog/ http://evanprice.blogspot.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/ http://everydaysocialdemocracy.blogspot.com/ http://ewanwatt.blogspot.com/ http://fahrenheitblog.blogspot.com/ http://fairdealphil.blogspot.com/ http://fairfieldlife.blogspot.com/ http://fallowfieldclarion.blogspot.com/


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Far Cry Fat Man in the Bathtub Fat Man on a Keyboard Feeding the Fish FibDems Final Redoubt Fiona Colley First Drafts Fisking Central Five Chinese Crackers Flagging Faith Flock Together For a Forceful & Moderate Frank Chalk Fraser Macpherson Free Jersey Free Market Fairytakes Freeborn John Freedom & Whiskey Freemania Freethink Freethinker From the Right Side Fulham Reactionary Furber World Further Ramblings of a Northern... Gaian Economics Gammarama Gareth Griffiths Gauche Gavin Ayling Gavin Yates General Theory of Rubbish Geoff Sez George Hollingbery George's Blog Ghost Cabinet Ghost of the Hitch Gill Cartwright Glamorganshire Global Power Europe Globalisation Institute Glyn Davies Gog With a Blog Golden Strawberry Gordon's Gofer Graham Dines Grains of Sand Grandma was a Suffragette Granite City Greater Manchester Fabian Society

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http://lithgo.wordpress.com/ http://themisanthrope.typepad.com/ http://fatmanonakeyboard.blogspot.com/ http://www.alex-parsons.co.uk/ http://www.fibdems.blogspot.com/ http://thefinalredoubt-hookie.blogspot.com/ http://www.fiona-colley.net/ http://blog.prospectblogs.com/ http://fiskingcentral.typepad.com/ http://5cc.blogspot.com/ http://sammcbratney.blogspot.com/ http://www.flocktogether.org.uk/blog/ http://cricketandcivilisation.blogspot.com/ http://forcefulandmoderate.blogspot.com/ http://frankchalk.blogspot.com/ http://frasermacpherson.blogspot.com/ http://www.freejersey.org/ http://www.fmft.net/ http://freebornjohn.blogspot.com/ http://freedomandwhisky.blogspot.com/ http://viva-freemania.blogspot.com/ http://www.freethink.org/ http://www.freethinker.co.uk/ http://fromtherightside.com/ http://fulhamreactionary.blogspot.com/ http://www.furberworld.co.uk/ http://furtherramblings.blogspot.com/ http://gaianeconomics.blogspot.com/ http://gammarama.co.uk/ http://coedpoeth-ward.blogspot.com/ http://libsoc.blogspot.com/ http://www.gavweb.net/blog/ http://gymedia.wordpress.com/ http://www.gentheoryrubbish.com/ http://www.geoffsez.blogspot.com/ http://georgehollingbery.blogspot.com/ http://georgeeaton.blogspot.com/ http://ghostcabinet.blogspot.com/ http://theghostofthehitch.blogspot.com/ http://harrowgatehillfuture.co.uk/gill/ http://glamorganshire.blogspot.com/ http://wwwglobalpowereurope.eu http://www.globalisationinstitute.org/blog/ http://glyndaviesam.blogspot.com/ http://gogwithablog.blogspot.com/ http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/ http://gordonsgofer.blogspot.com/ http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/blogs/dines_days.aspx http://jebin08.blogspot.com http://modernbluestocking.blogspot.com http://granitecapitalcity.blogspot.com/ http://gtrmancfabians.blogspot.com/


Green Berry Green Gauge Green Girls Global Green Jelly Bean Green Ladywell Green left Infoasis Green Living UK Green Ribbon Green the Health Service Greenman's Occasional Blog Greenpeace Greenwich Watch Greenyourope Grendel Grimmer Up North Grumpy Old Git Grumpyoldben Guerilla Welsh-Fare Guido Fawkes GWE Hak Mao Harriet Harman MP Harrowgate Hill Future Harry's Place Havering CF Havering On Hayes People's Head of Legal Heckling from the Balcony Helena, Left in london Hen Rich Flin Henry North London Hepburn Herald HfConwatch Hilary Burrage Hilton Global Initiative Hoby Holyrood Chronicles Homage to Catalonia Home Office Watch Hooting Yard Hot, Ginger & Dynamite House of Dumb Howling Spoons Hug a Hoodie Hunter & Shooter Hunting for Witches Huw Lewis AM I Didn't Quite Catch That I Intend to Escape I Was a Teenage Activist

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Iain Dale's Diary Iain Lindley Ian Bone Ian Cawsey MP Ian Eiloart Ian Hamilton QC Ian Lewis Iansredlog Idiots 4 Labour If Sam Tarran Was in Charge Ill Considered Incurable Hippie Independence Cymru Independence Home Indigo Jo Indigo Public Affairs Indygal Insatiable Yucca Inspector Gadget International Rooksbyism Is there more to life than shoes? Islington Conservatives Islington Newmania Istanbul Tory It Comes in Pints It's a Disgrace J Arthur Macnumpty Jag Singh Jageet Singh-Sohal James Anthony James Burdett James Cleverly James Duddridge MP James Hellyer James Nasty James O' Malley: Living Legend Jamie C's Blog Spot Jane Griffiths Jeffrey Archer Jeremy Hargreaves Jill Evans MEP Jim Millar Jk's World Jo Salmon Jock Coats Joe's Extra Bold Blog John Angliss John Biggs MLA John Hemming MP John McDonnell MP John Moorcraft

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http://iaindale.blogspot.com http://blog.iainlindley.com/ http://ianbone.wordpress.com/ http://www.myspace.com/iancawseymp http://www.eiloart.com/blog/ http://ianhamiltonqc.com/wordpress/ http://www.ianlewis.org.uk/ http://ian1961.blogspot.com/ http://idiots4labour.wordpress.com/ http://samtarran.blogspot.com/ http://illconsidered.blogspot.com http://incurable-hippie.blogspot.com http://alanindyfed.blogspot.com/ http://www.independencehome.org/ http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/ http://indigopublicaffairs.wordpress.com/ http://indygal.blog.com/ http://insatiableyucca.wordpress.com http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/ http://introoksbyism.blogspot.com/ http://more-to-life-than-shoes.blogspot.com/ http://islingtonconservatives.blogspot.com/ http://iznewmania.blogspot.com/ http://istanbultory.blogspot.com/ http://www.secondbreakfast.net/ http://itsadisgrace.blogspot.com/ http://macnumpty.blogspot.com/ http://www.jsingh.net/blog/ http://jsingh-sohal.blogspot.com/ http://young-unison.blogspot.com/ http://jamesburdett.blogspot.com/ http://jamescleverly.blogspot.com http://www.jamesduddridge.com/jamesBlogs.asp?start=1 http://beliefinbritain.blogspot.com/ http://theboabie.blogspot.com/ http://jamesomalley.co.uk/blog/ http://jamiecspoliticalhotspot.blogspot.com/ http://janestheones.blogspot.com/ http://jeffreyarchers.blogspot.com/ www.jeremyhargreaves.org/blog http://jillevans.wordpress.com/ http://jimmillar.blogspot.com/ http://jtothak.blogspot.com/ http://www.josalmon.co.uk/ http://jockcoats.blogspot.com/ http://joeotten.blogspot.com/ http://jangliss.livejournal.com/ http://thebiggsreport.blogspot.com/ http://johnhemming.blogspot.com/ http://www.johnmcdonnell.org.uk/index.html http://johnmoorcraft.blogspot.com/


John Redwood MP John Trenchard John Tyrrell John Wilkes JohnBM:Liberal Johninnit Johnny Void John's Labour blog Jon Worth Euroblog Jonathan Bishop Jonathan Chilvers Jonathan Derbyshire Jonathan Fryer Jonathan Wallace Jon's Union Blog Joseph O'Reilly Joy of Curmudgeonry Joyce Goes to London Julie Moody Julie Morgan MP Justified Spinner Karen Allen Kate's Home Blog Keir Gravil Keir Hardly Kerron Cross Kerry McCarthy MP Kevin Davis Kevin Maguire Kezia Dugdale's Soap Box Kick Aas Kidbrooke Noticeboard Kitchen Witch Kitnotes Know Your Place Kristofer Wilson Laban Tall Labour and Capital Labour Dood Labour First Labour Home Labour Humanatist Group Labour Left Forum Labour Mark Labour Movement for Europe Labour Watch Labour's Fightback Lancaster UAF Language Business Last Boy Scout Last Ditch

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Laughing Cavalier Leanne Wood AM Lee Gregory Leighton Andrews AM Leila Kiersch Lenin's Tomb Let's Be Sensible Letters from Letterman LibDem Blogs LibDem Voice Liberal Action Liberal Burblings Liberal Bureaucracy Liberal England Liberal Legend Liberal Leslie Liberal Mafia Liberal Polemic Liberal Republican Liberal Review Libertarian Alliance Libertarian UK Liberty Alone Liberty's Requiem Life is Complicated Lindyloo's Muze Linguanaut Liscard & Egremont News Little & Large Little Bulldogs Little Man in a Toque Live from the Socialist Fortress Lizzie Fison Llanelli Political Journal Lobster Blogster L'Ombre de mon Ombre Long Despairing Young Something Longbridge Conservatives Longrider Looking for a Voice Lord Hanningfield Lord Lucas Lord of the Blog (Clive Soley) Louise Baldock Love & Garbage Love & Liberty Luke Akehurst Luke Akehurst's Blog (Satire) Lynne Featherstone MP M Hristov Mabinogogiblog

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Mac Uaid Mad Musings of Me Maida Vale Conservatives Mailstrom Make My Vote Count Make Socialism History Make Surrey LibDem Free Making Waves Malcolm Redfellow Revivus Man in a Shed Many Angry Gerbils Marcus Wood Mark Clarke Mark Lazaorowicz Mark Mardell Mark Wadsworth Mark Young Marlyn Glen MSP Maroon Stripes Mars Hill Martin Bright Martin Cakebread Martin Eaglestone Martin Kelly Martine Martin's Lebwog Mary Foulkes Mary Reid Mask of Anarchy Matt Buck's Hack Cartoons Matt Davies Matt Dean Southampton Matt Marshall Matt Sellwood Matt T Matt Wardman Matt Withers MayorWatch Media Lens Media Stoat Mediocracy Medway Council Conservative Group Melanie Philips Mens Sana MEP Watch Mersey Basin Campaign Message Space Michael Crick Michael Edwardes Michael Greenwell Michael Meacher MP Middlesex Fire

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Mike Barker Mike Cartwright Mike Flower Mike Ion Mike Rouse Mike Young Mike's Little Red Page Mikey's Tent of Reality Millennium Dome Elephant Mimi Harker Mincing Metrosexual Mind Robber Mind the Gap Ming Campbell Ministry of Agitation & Propaganda Ministry of Truth Miranda Grell Miserable Old Fart MKNE Political Information Monbiot.com Monkey with a Blue Rosette Moonlight over Essex Moreton & Saughall Massie Matters Moronic Quotes Mow633 Mr Chalk Mr Eugenides Mr Joe Blog's Blog Musings of a Reactionary Snob Musings of an Owl Muslim Matters Mutley the Dog's Day Out My Rambling Thoughts Nadine Dorries MP Nanny Knows Best Natalie Solent Nation of Duncan Nation of Jonathan Nation of Shopkeepers Neil Fitgerald Neil Harding Neil Herron Neil Reddin Neil Woolcott Neprimerimye Nether-World Neue Arbeit Macht Frei Never Trust a Hippy New Culture Forum New Jerusalem New Political Communication Unit

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Open Secrets Ordovicius Organic Jac Original Bond Bloke Osolete Our Kingdom Out from the Crowd Out of Ergyng Outside Story Owain Glnedwr Communicates Oxford Labour Party P J's Politics Pamphlet Labour Parburypolitica Parliamentary Questions Parti Socialiste London Party Animal Past Present Future Pat McFadden MP Patience & Perseverance Patrick Cusworth Paul Crossley Paul Flynn MP Paul Hayes Paul Leake Paul Linford Paul Macmanomy Paul Massey Paul Scully Paul Uppal Paula Keaveney PC Bloggs People's Commissar of Enlightenment People's Republic of Newport Perfect.co.uk Pete Peter Black Peter C Glover's Wires Peter Hitchens Peter Kenyon Peter Smallbone Peter Wheeler Petrosecual's Tuppence Phil Bateman Phil Briscoe Phil Taylor Phillip Lee Philobiblon Picking Losers Pickled Politics Pie and Coffee

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Radical Muslim Raedwald Rainbow Connection Random Acts of Reality Random Jottings of Paul Donnelley Random Pottins Ranting Stan Ranting Stuff Raw Carrott Rayleen Kelly Reactionary Snob Reading Green Party Real Labour Blogger Real Life News Real Power to the People Recess Monkey Red Anorak Red Lion Regalis (KCL Conservatives) Remittance Man Renegade Eye Renewed Labour Republic of Hyde Park Respect Supporters Blog Resurgent Liberal Revolts Rhod on Public Affairs Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM Richard Allan Richard Booth Richard Corbett MEP Richard Spring MP Richard Thomas Richard Weider Rick's St Mary's Diary Ridiculous Politics Right for Scotland Right Links Right Thinking Rights of Man Riverside Views Road to EU Serfdom Rob Edwards Rob McGibbon Rob Newman Rob Shorrock Robert Wright Roger Evans MLA (City Hall) Roger Helmer MEP Rogue Gunner Rolled-up Trousers

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Rosemont Loving Rowan Cole Roy Greenslade Rupa Huq Ruscombe Green Russian Wolfhound Ruth Gledhill Ryan Cullen S J Howard Sabretache Sacred Facts Sadiq Khan MP Sajjad Karim MEP Samizdata Sandals are Off Save Bedford Hospital Save the Ribble Scorched Earth Scots & Independent Scottish Co-Operatove Wholesale Republic Scottish Patient Scottish Political News Scottish Roundup Scottish Tory Boy SELblog Select Society Seneddwr SGS Politics Blog Shades of Grey Shane Greer Shaphan Sharp Side Shiraz Socialist Shooting Parrotts Shuggy's Blog Sian Berry Simon Dickson Simon Jeram Simon Wilson Sinclair's Musings Sixty Second View Skipper Skuds' Sister's Brother Slugger O'Toole Small Nation Small Town Scribbles Smith Blog Snedds Snowflake 5 Social Affairs Unit Social Europe

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Socialism or Your Money Back Socialist Courier Socialist Unity Socialist Youth Network Softy Lefty Catchy Monkey Some Day I Will Treat You Good Some Doubts Some Random Thoughts Something Fishy Sophie Howe AM Southerner Up North Southpawpunch Speak Out Spectator Coffee House Spin & Spinners Spin Blog Splintered Sunrise Spontaneous Monotny Spy Blog St Crispin's Day Static Squid Stephen Manion Stephen Metcalfe Stephen Newton's Diary of Sorts Stephen Pollard Stephen Tall (Councillor Blog) Steph's Blog Steve Hanlon Steve Horgan Steve Webb MP Steyn Online Stoat Stodge Strange Stuff Striking a Balance Stroppy Blog Stuart Bruce Stuart King Stumbling & Mumbling Sunshine Over the Black Isle Suz Blog Sword in the Lake Taffia Don Taking Liberties Tales from the Riverbank Tales from the Sports & Social Talking Hoarsely Tampon Teabag Tapestry Talks Tartan Hero Tax Cutter

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Toby Harnden Tom Nairn Tom Watson MP Tommy English Tommy G Tom's Blog Tony's Blog Tory Heaven Tory in the Wilderness Tory Radio Tory Reform Group ToryWatch Tracey Crouch Transition Culture Transpero Trevor Ivory Tribune Cartoons Tribune History Trust People Tuscan Tony TwentyNothing Tygerland UCL Conservatives UK Daily Pundit UK Events UK News & Politics UK Poliblogs Aggregator UK Polling Report UK Today UKIP @ Home Underhill Unenlightened Commentary Union Futures United Diversity United Irelander Unknown Conscience Unlock Democracy Unoriginal Name 38 Up the Workers Upton Matters Valleys Mam Vaughan Roderick Vented Spleen Very British Subjects Vicky Ford View from the Glen View from the North Views from the UK 2006 Vino's Political Blog Viridios Virtual Stoa

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http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/foreign/tobyharnden/ http://web.mac.com/tomnairn/iWeb/Site%203/Blog/Blog.html http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/ http://in-ger-land.blogspot.com/ http://bigtommygspeaks.blogspot.com/ http://tom.acrewoods.net/blog http://blog.pint.org.uk/ http://toryheaven.blogspot.com/ http://toryinthewilderness.blogspot.com/ http://www.toryradio.com http://toryreformgroup.wordpress.com/ http://www.torywatch.com/ http://blog.traceycrouch.org/ http://transitionculture.org http://transpero.net/blog/ http://trevor-ivory.blogspot.com/ http://tribunecartoons.blogspot.com/ http://tribunehistory.blogspot.com/ http://trustpeople.blogspot.com/ http://tuscantony.blogspot.com/ http://www.jamesrb.co.uk http://tygerland.net/ http://uclconservatives.co.uk/ http://the-daily-pundit.blogspot.com/ http://uk-events.blogspot.com/ http://bestnewsfirst.blogspot.com/ http://www.voidstar.com/ukpoliblog/ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/index.php http://www.theuktoday.co.uk/ http://e-ukip-home.blogspot.com/ http://theviewfromunderhill.blogspot.com/ http://fountain.blogspot.com/ http://unionfutures.blogspot.com/ http://uniteddiversity.com http://unitedirelander.blogspot.com/ http://unknownconscience.blogspot.com/ http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/ http://unoriginalname38.blogspot.com/ http://uptheworkers.blogspot.com/ http://uptonmatters.com/ http://merchmerthyr.blogspot.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/vaughanroderick/ http://vented-spleen.blogspot.com/ http://www.verybritishsubjects.blogspot.com/ http://vickyford.blogspot.com/ http://cwmview.blogspot.com/ http://theviewfromthenorth.blogspot.com http://viewsfromuk.blogspot.com/ http://vinospoliticalblog.blogspot.com/ http://viridios.blogspot.com http://virtualstoa.net/


Voice of Reason Voice of Young Liberal Democrats Vote Franco Vox Polis Waendel Journal Waffle Tree Waking Hereward Walcot Ward Wales World Nation Washminster Watlington Waxing the Lyrical Weasal's Words WebCameron Weblog Cartoons Welfare State We're In Well, Really! Welsh Blog Index Welsh Independence West Brom Blog West Midlands Conservatives Westminster Wisdom What Comes to Pass What You Can Get Away With Whatever Happened to Leon Trotsky What's New Pussycat? Whiskey Priest Who Would be a Leader? Wife in the North Wildberry's Blog Wilted Rose Winchester Whisperer Witanagemot Club With One Bound Wolverhampton Politics Wonderful World of Lola Wondrous World of Hevva Wongablog Wonko's World Worcester Blue Wycombe Liberal Democrats YBF Activists Yellow Guard Yellow Swordfish Yohji Armstrong Yorkshire Ranter Young Unionists Your Friend in the North Your Right to Know Zin Zine

http://thevoiceofreason-ann.blogspot.com/ http://youngbritishandliberal.wordpress.com/ http://votefranco.blogspot.com/ http://www.voxpolis.com/ http://tonysharp.blogspot.com/ http://www.thewaffletree.org/ http://wakinghereward.blogspot.com/ http://walcot.blogspot.com/ http://walesworldnation.welshblogs.co.uk/ http://washminster.blogspot.com/ http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/ http://www.waxingthelyrical.com/ http://wrinkledweasels.blogspot.com http://www.webcameron.org.uk/ http://www.weblogcartoons.com/ http://thewelfarestatewerein.com http://www.wellreally.co.uk/ http://welshblogindex.blogspot.com/ http://independent-wales.blogspot.com/ http://westbromblog.blogspot.com/ http://westmidlandsconservatives.wordpress.com/ http://gracchii.blogspot.com/ http://www.whatcomestopass.com/ http://www.nickbarlow.com/blog/ http://trotskyist.blogspot.com/ http://cat-smith.blogspot.com/ http://oberon2001.blogspot.com/ http://glamorganshire.blogspot.com/ http://www.wifeinthenorth.com/ http://wildberrys-blog.blogspot.com http://thewiltedrose.wordpress.com/ http://winchesterwhisperer.blogspot.com/ http://www.toque.co.uk/witan/ http://withonebound.blogspot.com/ http://www.wolverhamptonpolitics.co.uk/ http://thewonderfulworldoflola.blogspot.com/ http://tizzielizzie.blogspot.com/ http://wongablog.co.uk/ http://wonkosworld.co.uk/wordpress/ http://worcesterblue.blogspot.com/ http://www.wycombelibdems.org.uk/index.php/category/blog/ http://ybfblog.wordpress.com http://ayellowguard.blogspot.com/ http://www.yellowswordfish.com/ http://yohjiarmstrong.blogspot.com/ http://yorkshire-ranter.blogspot.com/ http://www.youngunionists.org.uk/ http://yourfriendinthenorth.blogspot.com/ http://www.yrtk.org/ http://dokcyezz.blogspot.com/


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